


Two Months of Hell

by Asperwolf



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: 7th year, Deamus, Drarry, F/M, Gay Draco, Gay Draco Malfoy, Hogwarts, Hogwarts Eighth Year, M/M, Malfoy Manor, OC, Oblivious Harry, Original Character - Freeform, PTSD, Seventh year, Slow Burn, Therapy, ongoing, ronmione, seamus makes bets
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-28
Updated: 2018-11-16
Packaged: 2018-11-20 11:25:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 23
Words: 49,527
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11334741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Asperwolf/pseuds/Asperwolf
Summary: Incomplete and ongoing.Harry, Ron, Hermione and the majority of the year are back at Hogwarts to redo seventh year. Everything is pretty much the same as all the other years, including Harry and Draco's rivalry/ obsession with each other. Harry and Draco discover a previously unknown Legilimency skill that only helps their conflict. Some Hinny, Drarry (main focus), Ronmione.





	1. Chapter 1

As winter finally drew into spring, Hogwarts was peaceful once again. The Great War had ended and its wounds had healed and, for the first time in years, everything was back to normal. Actually, it was better than normal. Hogwarts had never looked more cheerful. The buildings had been repaired and everyone was happy again. Harry, Ron, Hermione and the other students had come back to Hogwarts to repeat the year they had missed.   
Harry yawned: the lesson he was in couldn’t have possibly go more boring if it tried. after running around finding horcruxes and plotting war strategies, the new-found normalcy was dull, not that Harry or anyone else would ever want to do that again. Harry was just struggling to get interested in school work again. He glanced around the classroom, his eyes crossing over his friends who looked just as bored as he felt. Ron was pushing his wand back and forth on the table, Seamus was doodling in the corner of his parchment, and Neville’s head was getting closer and closer to the desk every second. Hermione, he saw, was sitting bolt upright and drinking in every word McGonagall said. He smiled to himself, Hermione was a lot less bossy these days, but she still nagged Ron and Harry to pay attention in lessons. As he thought this, Hermione turned around and gave him a hard look. Harry stuck his tongue out her and laughed to himself. She grinned at him and turned back round.   
Harry’s broad smile slipped away as he spotted a blond-haired boy in front of him. The Gryffindors now, unfortunately, shared their lessons with the Slytherins. Malfoy had come back to Hogwarts with his tail between his legs. He’d apologized to everyone and was lying low for the first time in his life. He and Harry no longer hated each other but things weren’t exactly pleasant between them either. Harry sighed quietly and closed his eyes, allowing the noise of the room to subside to a gentle hum.  
An impatient cough broke through his thoughts. Harry opened his eyes to see Malfoy standing over him. Harry started slightly but soon composed himself.  
“What is it, Malfoy?” he said in a jaded tone.  
“McGonagall said you have the book I need and seeing as you’re not using it, I’m having it.”  
“No you are not! It’s my book, get your own.” Malfoy ignored him and reached out to take the book but before he could so much as touch it, Harry grabbed his wrist roughly.  
“Get off me, Potter!” Malfoy said angrily, pulling his arm away.  
“Boys! Seeing as everyone had paired up already while you were squabbling over a book, I’ll have to put you two together!” Harry swore to himself. He’d forgotten all about the project McGonagall had told them they had to do. It was a long project and counted heavily towards their N.E.W.Ts. And he was stuck partnered up with Malfoy. A glance at the Slytherin told him that he wasn’t at all pleased at this either.  
“But Professor...” he started.  
“You two are working together and that’s final. Maybe next time you’ll think about it a little more before you disrupt my class with your silly squabbles.” She walked away and began to talk to another student, making it perfectly clear that the matter was closed.  
Harry grunted and turned to Malfoy. He opened his mouth to speak but Malfoy cut him off.  
“Don’t talk to me, Potter.” He sauntered off leaving Harry, who groaned and let his head fall onto the desk with a dull thunk. This was going to be a long couple of weeks.  
\--  
Harry sat down heavily onto the sofa in the common room after supper in a foul mood. Ron and Hermione cautiously sat down next to him, exchanging glances.   
“Why did McGonagall have to put us together? Surely, she knows what an ill-mannered, uncooperative git Malfoy is! It’s as if she wants us to kill each other.”  
“Maybe she just thinks that making you work together will help you resolve your differences. And besides, you did ask for it.” Harry groaned loudly. Normally he would agree with Hermione but he was simply too angry to care that she was probably right.  
“Shut up, Hermione! The man has enough to worry about without you blaming him.” Harry was grateful of Ron being on his side. Hermione elbowed Ron and he grinned at her before turning back to Harry. “It’s alright, mate, you’ll think of something.”  
“He’s right, Harry. It’ll be okay.”  
“’He’s right’, I’ll never get tired of hearing that!” Ron laughed. Harry tuned out at that point, leaving Ron and Hermione to bicker light-heartedly. He didn’t know how he was going to cope spending so much time with Malfoy.   
The next morning Harry woke up late. He sleepily padded to the showers and to his dismay found that the hot water had already been used up. Unfortunately, the heating charms only lasted so long without Dumbledore to maintain them. As he shivered under the lukewarm water, he thought about his transfiguration lesson that morning. He was dreading it and would much rather crawl back into his warm bed and stay there until lunchtime but he knew he couldn’t. For a start, he’d never hear the end of Hermione’s nagging and besides, he was the Gryffindor in this, if he didn’t show up Malfoy may think he chickened out. Malfoy getting one over on him was something Harry couldn’t contemplate. Groaning loudly for the millionth time in the past two days, he got dressed and went down stairs into the common room.  
Ginny met him just before he left to go to breakfast and welcomed him with a warm smile that gave him butterflies.  
“Hi Harry,” she said, winding her arm around his waist, “Hermione told me what happened with Malfoy. Bad luck.” Harry smiled back at her and put his arm around her shoulders. Seeing her had lifted his mood slightly. They left the common room and went to the Great Hall, chatting all the way. By the time they reached the Gryffindor table, Harry was almost feeling optimistic about the day that lay before him.  
His optimism died quickly when he went into transfiguration and saw Malfoy’s scowling face however, and all the worries seeped back. Malfoy saw him and glared. It was obvious he thought it was Harry’s fault they were in this mess. Harry sat down at his desk and McGonagall called for quiet.  
“Now, you all have your partners, I trust, so we will begin. Each pair will get a subject and you will work on perfecting that form of transformation together.” she looked pointedly at Harry and Malfoy in turn before continuing. “This will be the subject in which you are tested on mainly for your N.E.W.Ts so it would do you well to get it right. The project consists of ten hours to be spent in lessons and thirty to be spent in your own time. It would be wise to do it in hour blocks as homework. Now, pair up.” Harry shot a look at Malfoy who simply glared back at him. Harry beckoned for Malfoy to come over but the Slytherin made it clear that he had no intention of moving. Harry wasn’t in the mood to dispute and gave in without much argument. He stood up and made his way slowly to Malfoy’s desk.  
“Go away, Potter.” Harry stood awkwardly at Malfoy’s desk, hating him for making this even more difficult than it already was.  
“I hate to spoil your brilliant mood, Malfoy, but, because of you, we have to work together,” Harry said coldly.  
“Oh, so it’s my fault? It’s my fault that you wouldn’t give me that damn book so now we’re in this mess? Go away,” Malfoy spat before looking back down at the book he was reading. Harry followed his eyes for a moment before snatching the book from under his nose. Malfoy protested loudly. “Give that back, Potter!” Malfoy stood up and tried to grab the book back, but, being the better seeker, Harry’s reflexes were quicker. Harry moved out of the way and Malfoy overbalanced and had to clutch onto Harry to stop himself falling to the floor. Harry pushed him away roughly.  
“Get off, Malfoy!” Harry felt ruffled. Malfoy had grabbed onto the front of his jumper and hit his head on Harry’s chest. Harry righted himself and glanced around. McGonagall was looking unimpressed and half the room was silent. Harry slunk back to his desk, angrily throwing Malfoy’s book onto the table. McGonagall sighed and left them too it. She would talk to them at the end of the lesson.  
Harry spent the lesson ignoring the book and glaring at Malfoy.  
“Potter, Malfoy, stay behind please. The rest of you may leave.” Everyone else shuffled around and got their things together and left.  
“Hang in there, mate,” Ron said sympathetically as he passed. “We’ll see you later.” He left with Hermione so it was only Harry, Malfoy and McGonagall left in the room.  
“Boys, come here please.” Harry stayed in his seat, not wanting to be the first one to rise and walk up to the front. Malfoy apparently had the same idea and stayed where he was. Harry shot him a glare and Malfoy returned it instantly. “Stop it, both of you. Come to the front. Now.”   
Harry rose and almost smiled as Malfoy quickly followed. They both wove their way between the desks and stood at McGonagall’s desk. She looked at them both.  
“Why can’t you two just get on?” she asked them. He eyes almost had humour in them but her face was drawn.   
“Well if Malfoy would stop being so arrogant it would help...”  
“Me! If you’d stop being so damn saintly we might get along better!”   
“Both of you be quiet!” McGonagall looked disappointed. Harry stayed quiet. He hated to disappoint McGonagall, especially as she’d been so supportive in the Great War.   
“Sorry, Professor,” Harry mumbled, looking at the floor.   
“Maybe if you could put all this energy into working together instead of bickering you might get something done, once in a while.” Merlin, Harry hated when adults said that. It reminded him of being ten again. It seemed to be better fitting when teachers told him off for arguing with Dudley and other students rather than being scolded for snapping at an ignorant Death-Eater who had tormented him all his life. He didn’t verbalise his thoughts though, mainly because he wanted to stay on the right side of McGonagall and, even though it was only Malfoy, bringing up the other boy’s painful past seemed a little cruel. Harry knew Malfoy was ashamed of his past and dragging up that subject was bound to end badly, with them both being sent to Madam Pomfrey. Harry knew all too well that Malfoy was more than capable of breaking bones even without the aid of a wand.   
By the time they were let out, most people had already left the Great Hall and were in the common rooms or soaking up the weak spring sun. Harry was happy to see that his friends had waited for him and were still sat at the Gryffindor table. He smiled and greeted them and sat down between Ginny and Neville. As he buttered a slice of bread and poured himself a goblet of juice he tried to join in with the others’ conversation. He made an attempt to focus on their argument about Quidditch but was soon lost in thought.   
Harry’s mind ticked over. He was desperately trying to think up a way to get through the next few weeks and he could almost hear his brain whirring with the effort. He sighed to himself. There was only one way to solve this. He would have to be nice to Malfoy.  
Harry knew that would be much more difficult than it initially seemed but it was the only truly realistic option. Although, Harry thought, maybe realistic wasn’t exactly the right word to use. It was certainly more realistic than trying to do a paired project without actually talking to your partner, however. Harry looked across at the blond haired Slytherin, who was just leaving, and grumbled inwardly. It was going to be tough, but he honestly had no other choice. He decided he’d talk to Malfoy after supper that evening.   
To Harry’s dismay, the rest of the afternoon flew by and supper time came much too quickly. Harry didn’t know why he felt so nervous about talking to Malfoy. What he did know was that the sensation was uncomfortable and set him on edge.  
“It’s alright, mate,” Ron said reassuringly, for he, Hermione and Ginny knew of Harry’s plans “what’s the worst he can do?”  
“Hex me? Break my nose again?”   
“Or kiss you.” Everyone stared at Seamus. “Oh come on! You can see he’s gay!” Seamus protested as Ron kicked him under the table and Dean elbowed him. Harry rolled his eyes.  
“Well if he does, hex him back!”   
“Or kiss him back!” Seamus added, laughing. “You might like it.” Harry groaned loudly and chucked a bread roll at Seamus. Ginny glared at him. Ron couldn’t help but laugh.   
“Don’t listen to him, we’ll get him later. Anyway, you’re much better at magic than the slime ball.”  
“Thanks Ron,” Harry smiled at him briefly, ignoring Seamus, before continuing. “But most of the spells he knows are pain inducing.”  
“And semi-legal.”   
“Thanks, Seamus. Keep this up and I’ll personally kick you off this table and you’ll have to eat with Hufflepuff.” Seamus stuck his tongue out at Harry and grinned.   
The conversation was left at that and they fell silent for a few moments.  
“Malfoy’s on the move.” Sure enough, Ron was right and Malfoy had got up and was heading for the doors.  
“Good luck, Harry,” Ginny called as Harry got up to go after Malfoy.  
“Malfoy!” Harry called after the disappearing figure as he followed him, walking as fast as he could down the corridor without actually running. He called again as he rounded a corner and saw Malfoy in front of him. The Slytherin stopped and turned around. He pulled a face and made to continue walking with a grunt of ‘go away, Potter.’ Harry grumbled and cursed inwardly. Trust Malfoy to be difficult.  
“Malfoy!” Harry yelled after the retreating Slytherin. “You know we can’t do this alone so why won’t you co-operate! You know full well that you have to get at least an ‘exceeds expectations’ in every subject and without this project you’ll barely get an ‘Acceptable’.” Malfoy stopped in his tracks and slowly turned round. Harry smiled to himself. It was quickly replaced by a sudden flood of worry. Malfoy’s face was dark. A scowl creased on his forehead, his grey eyes were aflame.   
“Fine,” Malfoy snapped. “But don’t for one second think that I’m doing what you say! Your little friends might follow you around like you're some celebrity but I’m not going to.” With that, Malfoy turned on his heel and stalked off.   
Harry left for the Gryffindor common room, grinning. At least Malfoy had agreed to work with him and the insults had brushed off Harry, for he was used to Malfoy’s temper. He made a mental note, however, to make sure he didn’t bring up Malfoy’s grades, or any other painful subject. He knew how stubborn Malfoy was so he needed to be careful and stay on the right side of him, otherwise he would only get an ‘acceptable’ himself.


	2. chapter 2

Harry slung his bag down onto the floor in the empty room. He sat on a nearby desk and waited. He was early, but only by a few minutes. He knew Malfoy would be perfectly on time and Harry hated arriving second. He’d just got out his transfiguration book when Malfoy strode in slamming the door behind him.  
“Hi,” Harry greeted him. Malfoy glared at him, before sighing and greeting him back. Harry grinned. “Where shall we start then?” he asked. Malfoy scowled.  
“I’m not doing what you say, Potter.”  
“Well, you decide then!” Harry said.  
“Fine, I will! You do one half, I’ll do the other.” Malfoy was about to start copying out his half when Harry stopped him.  
“It would be much better if we worked together-” he started but Malfoy cut him off.  
“No, Potter. Definitely not.”  
“Why not?”  
“Because we’re not friends! I don’t want to work with you and people will start assuming things!”  
“No they won’t!” Harry exclaimed. “They’ll just think that we are getting along, like adults should, so we can work on a project together. And besides, I’m sick of arguing with you all the time! I don't care about what happened in the past anymore, so why can’t we just be friends!” Harry only then heard what he said and how pathetic it sounded. He bit his lip, waiting for the snappy comment following his outburst.   
“You don’t know how much you sound like a girl, Potter. But we may as well give being... friends... a go.” Harry grinned and held out his hand. Malfoy looked at it for a second before shaking it. As Harry flicked his eyes up to Malfoy’s, he thought that maybe he saw a hint of warmth in the usually cold grey eyes.   
Both boys spent all of their free period working together on the project, chatting casually as they worked. They managed to go a whole hour with only having one minor argument over the subject of friends and they managed to get a lot of work done. When the bell rang at 1pm for lunch they were still working.   
Harry sighed as he picked up his work and put it into his bag. He paused at the door.   
“Coming, Malfoy?” he asked. Malfoy looked at him, unsure. “Come on!” Harry extended a hand and tugged gently at Malfoy’s sleeve and smiled at him. Malfoy rolled his eyes and Harry laughed. Malfoy almost smiled back. They left together, keeping up a light conversation.  
“How can you not like flying?” Harry exclaimed, laughing slightly.  
“I just don’t, okay,” Malfoy answered. He was wearing a scowl but his tone was light and almost...friendly.   
“You were a seeker for Slytherin, you seemed to enjoy it then,”  
“I think the only thing I enjoyed was the prospect of beating you at your own game.” Harry laughed at this. It felt almost nice to be friends with Malfoy and joking about the past. Harry started slightly as this thought crossed his mind. Joking about the past with Malfoy. This was weird. He looked across at Malfoy, who was walking next to him. Things had changed so much but this was unrealistic. Something bad was bound to happen. Malfoy glanced across at him and Harry looked away. He shrugged the feeling off, making a promise to himself to muse over this later. In the meantime, they lapsed into a comfortable silence.  
They reached the Great Hall and glanced almost nervously at each other. Harry noticed his friends already there, waiting.  
“See you around, Malfoy,” he said, hitting the blond gently on the shoulder. Harry walked over the Gryffindor table and sat down with his friends, ignoring the looks he got.  
“What’s going on,” Ron asked, almost the second Harry sat down.  
“Nothing much,” Harry replied, attempting, and failing, to hide a smile.  
“Did Malfoy cooperate then?” Hermione asked him, already knowing the answer if Harry’s huge grin had anything to do with it.   
“Yep, we actually decided to be friends.” Seamus wolf whistled.  
“Are you sure you’re just friends Harry, you looked pretty close. What exactly happened when you were alone together in an abandoned classroom?”   
“What’s going on?” Ginny sat down beside Harry with a look of confusion on her face. Ron was spluttering and coughing and Harry was kicking Seamus under the table. Hermione was blushing and giggling.  
“Nothing, Gin,” Harry said, kissing Ginny’s cheek and slipping an arm around her waist. Ginny rested her head on his shoulder. For a reason he didn’t yet understand, Harry looked across to the Slytherin table. Malfoy looked right back at him, his grey eyes cold. Harry shivered and looked away. He pushed Malfoy to the back of his mind and settled down to joke and chat with his friends.  
\--   
Draco yawned and stretched. He couldn’t wait for the lesson to end. For some reason he was almost looking forward to transfiguration. He’d had a rough morning. He’d woken up late, had very little breakfast, messed up his potions and gotten a detention for missing homework. On top of that, he’d been pestered by Pansy and tripped embarrassingly over his shoelaces which were unusually untied. He’d hit his face and the graze on his cheek stung with every little movement. He felt tired and very irritable. He just wanted the whole day to be over.  
When he walked in to transfiguration, Potter greeted him.  
“Alright, Malfoy?” Draco rolled his eyes. Potter’s cheery mood irritated Draco greatly and he snapped back at him.   
“Just because we’re not fighting, it doesn’t mean we’re suddenly best friends, Potter.” Potter stuck out his tongue at Draco in a way that was extremely annoying and slightly too friendly for his liking. Stupid git, he thought to himself as he settled down for the lesson.   
When they were told to pair up, Potter luckily moved over to Draco without any fuss. He was greatly relieved as he was not in the mood to mess about and argue with him.   
“You do know you’ve got a cut on your cheek, don’t you?” Potter asked him, seconds after sitting down next to him. Draco huffed, and shot a tired look at Potter. He seemed to get the message as he stayed quiet. For the rest of the lesson Potter let him take charge and didn’t contradict him on every single little thing like he normally did. Draco was very relieved and to his surprise, the lesson seemed to fly by instead of dragging on like it normally did.   
“Potter, what did you get for this-” Draco started but his sentence stopped abruptly when he noticed that Potter’s eyes were trained on him. “What is it?” he asked, slightly worried. Potter extended his wand to his face and Draco warily watched it come towards him, almost going cross-eyed as it nearly reached his nose.   
“Potter,” Draco warned, his heart hammering in fear. “What are you doing?” Potter muttered a spell quietly and he flinched away but no pain came. A cool sensation came over his cheek and when it left him, the stinging from his graze left with it. Draco reached up to his face and found that the graze had gone. Draco looked back to Potter. The hand retreated and he drew his wand away. Draco looked at him. He wore a slightly surprised expression. A slow grin soon spread over Potter’s features. Draco held his gaze for a moment before Potter looked away and continued with the lesson.  
The bell rang much sooner than he expected and Potter’s light-hearted air must have been infectious because Draco left the classroom feeling slightly calmer than he did when he entered it. He grumbled as his fingers explored his cheek, he could have healed it himself. The gesture had left Draco a little confused. Why would Potter help him? They had a truce but the Gryffindor seemed to be taking it too far. Draco shook his head, he wasn’t one to ponder over things and soon dismissed the event. It didn’t disappear completely though, it still stayed somewhere at the back of his mind.  
\--  
Perhaps healing Malfoy’s cut was a step too far, Harry thought whilst lying in bed that night. He couldn’t help himself, though. He had to. He’d looked up at Malfoy, about to ask him a question, when his eyes settled on the cut marring his pale skin. It contrasted with his otherwise completely flawless skin and the longer he looked at him, the more he wanted to get rid of it. Healing it would also build up Malfoy’s trust in him and that was never a bad thing. It only sunk in how little he was trusted when Malfoy flinched away when he cast the spell. He saw how the fear in his eyes was replaced by surprise. He was taken aback by how surprised he looked. It was if he always expected to be hexed or hurt. Harry softened towards him slightly.


	3. Chapter 3

I know people don't like ff.net but I find it so much easier to use and the app more pleasing so I probably wont continue updating here so you can find much more of this fic here; https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12298334/1/2-Months-of-Hell

unless a considerable amount of people would particularly like me to. Send me a message if you're interested in the fic and would like it to be updated here. I just don't want to spend hours grappling with this site if no-one is going to read my fic.


	4. Chapter 4

Thank you for your interest. Will post tomorrow hopefully. Chapters may be rather long.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I know Lavender died now but didn't when I first wrote this 5 ish years ago

Harry had arranged with Malfoy to meet in the library for their next free period. He was, to say the least, a little apprehensive. It was the first time they would be working together outside of their usual empty classroom and although they walked together through the corridors once or twice that was when there were lots of people around. The library was a far more open and intimate space and it often held some of the most gossipy people in the whole school. Harry was worried, not at the prospect of being seen with Malfoy, but of Malfoy himself. He knew that the Slytherin didn’t want it to come across as being friends with Harry and he knew he’d be snappy and reluctant. Still, the work had to be done and the library had all of the books they needed.  
At lunch that afternoon he sat with the Gryffindors.   
“Why don’t you come to Hogsmeade with us, Harry? You and Ginny could come. We all have free periods and McGonagall is letting us go again.”   
“Sorry Ron, I can’t. I’ve got to go to the library with Malfoy,” he replied, a little unhappy that he wasn’t able to go but also thankful to be staying inside as the weather outside was bitter. He looked across at Ginny. She looked a little put out. He slid an arm around her,  
“I’ll make it up to you, I promise,” he told her, kissing her lightly. Ron pulled a face.   
“Some of us are trying to eat!” he joked.   
“Oh yeah?” Harry retorted, “Where, may I ask, is your left hand then?” He laughed at Ron as a slight flush crept up his neck. Hermione giggled lightly.   
The bell for the end of lunch rang around the castle. Harry collected his things and left his friends reluctantly. He hugged Ginny quickly and hurried off towards the library before he changed his mind. When he reached the library, he wound his way through it, scouring the tables for Malfoy. He soon found him in the corner, his blond head bent over a piece of parchment and a pile of books. Harry cleared his throat and greeted him quietly, so he didn’t startle him. Malfoy simply looked up at him and, after pulling out a chair and motioning Harry to sit next to him, he carried on writing quickly in neat, loopy letters. Harry watched him for a moment. He’d never seen Malfoy put any effort into anything and here he was, writing away and not even breaking away to talk to Harry. He sighed and got to work.  
\--  
Forty-five minutes later found the two boys deep into their work. Both heads were bowed, black almost touching blond. The sat close together, pouring over the same book, their elbows almost touching as they scribbled notes. Occasionally, the Slytherin flinched and looked up at the Gryffindor as their knees touched but otherwise they were both oblivious to the world around them. And oblivious to Lavender Brown who watched them from behind a bookcase.   
\--  
Draco ambled tiredly into his room and flung himself onto his bed. His day had been tiring and people had been staring at him and whispering when he went past them. He was confused and their actions put an anxious niggle in his stomach. He was used to this and it brought horrible memories back into his mind. He sat up to get changed and got under his duvet. It provided warmth but it didn’t manage to thaw his cold mood. Draco sighed. He rolled over and stared up at the ceiling. He never remembered falling asleep but he must have done as a familiar dream set in.   
He was back in Malfoy manor and all of the people around him wore hard and cold expressions, including himself. He didn’t want to be there. He didn’t want to be there in the slightest. He didn’t want to hear the latest plots and plans and he didn’t want to hear a constant update of the war. He just wanted to escape it all. He wanted to escape the name ‘Potter’ that rung around his head in the voices of his father, Lord Voldemort and the other Death-Eaters. He wanted to escape the spider web he was trapped in but he knew he couldn’t. He never wanted this. He had no choice.  
The tense air of his home was punctured by a group of Muggle Snatchers. In the scuffle, Draco heard Potter’s name being repeated. His mother called him.  
“They say they’ve got Potter,” she said coldly, “Draco, come here.” Draco unwillingly stood up. Draco approached a figure who had massive swollen features and dark hair. The figure avoided eye contact with him and Draco was pleased, his eyes were a portal to the raw fear he felt at that point. His father pushed him for an answer and he stuttered back.  
“I can’t – I can’t be sure.” His father pushed him to go closer. Draco felt the pressure on his shoulders. He went closer to the person and his father stood over him excitedly.  
“I don’t know,” he said blandly, trying to hide the shake in his voice.  
Draco walked away, back to his mother. He was called upon again to identify Granger and Weasley. He answered carefully, not saying yes or no, just hinting that it could be them. He was petrified of the consequences if his answer was wrong. Suddenly time lurched forward and he was in the middle of it all. Spells plummeted through the air around him and screams of terror and triumph echoed around his ears as clear as they were that horrible day.   
Draco awoke in the middle of the night in a cold sweat like he had done every time his past had come back to haunt him. Draco rarely slept a whole night and the dreams were so vivid it sometimes took ten minutes before Draco remembered where he was. Draco shook uncontrollably and his hands were clammy and his hair was stuck to his forehead. His body did the routine it was so used to doing without Draco telling it to. He fumbled around on his bedside table and his fingers soon touched what they were searching. His hand closed around the smooth wood of his wand, which he was very pleased to get back, and he lit it. The tip bathed the area around him in a slightly eerie but reasonably reassuring bluish light.   
“Draco?” a familiar, sleepy voice whispered out to him in the dark as it always did. “Bad dream?” the voice asked, although its owner already knew the answer. Draco sighed to himself. He was grateful of Blaise breaking him out of his dreams every time he had them. It was calming to hear his voice but it didn’t help much. He still felt very alone. Once his heart rate had calmed down he whispered ‘nox’ and the darkness fell around him again. Thankfully, he fell asleep quite quickly.   
The effects of yet another broken night followed Draco right into the day. By the time his free period came around he wanted to do nothing more than abandon Potter and go to the comfort of his bed. But he couldn’t. Instead, he pulled his things together and went to the classroom they always met in. He walked in through the door and heavily dumped his stuff onto the floor. He sank into a chair and dropped his head into his arms. He heard Potter clear his throat and raised his head slightly. The black haired boy grinned back at him. Draco scowled.  
“One of your Gryffindor idiots has been spreading rumours about us,” he stated bluntly.   
“Lavender, I know. I’m sorry,” Potter said simply. “Don’t worry, we’ve sorted her out.” He smiled a sly smile and threw a wink at Draco.   
“Stop it, Potter!” he snapped. “We’re not friends and you keep doing that. No wonder people are assuming things.” Potter’s grin sank and the once friendly atmosphere in the room turned cold. Draco almost regretted saying that as the hour dragged on awkwardly but he didn’t let that bother him. At least Potter wasn’t being so annoyingly friendly.   
\--  
“Harry, can I talk to you?” Harry’s stomach turned over. He’d been dreading this. According to Ron and Hermione, Ginny wanted to discuss ‘feelings’ with him. Ever since the battle ended they had been a couple but he knew Ginny wanted a worded conformation.   
“S’pose,” he replied, grudgingly. This was something he really didn’t want to do in the slightest. He stood up and followed Ginny to a more secluded area. They both sat down and Ginny held his hands in hers. Merlin, Harry thought to himself as he groaned inwardly. He lent across and tried to silence her with a kiss, which she returned for a few moments before pulling away.   
“We need to spend more time together,” she said softly. Harry felt a little guilty. “I can’t remember the last time we actually spent the afternoon for just us.”  
“Sorry,” he murmured. “It’s just, the project for transfiguration eats up all of my time.” Ginny laughed weakly.  
“Yeah, spending that much time with Malfoy seems like a drag." Harry thought for a moment.  
“It’s not so bad,” he replied with a shrug. Ginny raised her eyebrows. “Seriously!” he exclaimed. Ginny was about to reply when the bell rang for the next lesson. It was another free period and Harry got up to go to the usual place he spent his spare time. Ginny looked up at him.   
“Sorry, Gin. I’ve got to see Malfoy again,” he explained apologetically.  
“Well if you’d rather spend your spare time with Malfoy instead of me then I suppose that’s okay,” she said spitefully. He felt guilty and gave her a brief smile. He lent to kiss her goodbye but she moved away and left him standing there foolishly. He rubbed his head, feeling embarrassed. He left the common room quickly.   
When he entered the classroom the embarrassment and guilt still tinged his mood. Malfoy was already there and scowling but he hadn’t started work. Harry grumpily sat down at a chair. Malfoy looked up at him inquisitively. Harry looked at him, held his gaze for a moment before letting out a sigh and raking a hand through his hair. Malfoy had snapped at him when they last met up and he regretted coming. For once he would have preferred being grilled by Ginny.   
“What’s up, Potter?” Malfoy asked him after a few moments of silence. Harry stared down at the table.  
“I thought we weren’t friends, Malfoy,” he spat at him. He heard Malfoy grumble, obviously put out at being denied the opportunity to make fun of him.   
“Alright then, Saint Potter -”  
“Don’t call me that!” Harry snapped, bristling at the use of an old nickname.   
“Tell me what’s wrong then!” Harry looked inquisitively up at Malfoy. He looked genuinely interested.   
“Ginny wants to talk about our relationship,” he answered with a groan. The corner of Malfoy’s mouth twitched up slightly.   
“So?” Harry let out an exasperated sigh.  
“So,” he mimicked Malfoy’s tone, “Girls get scary when they want to talk about ‘feelings’.” Malfoy smirked at him and Harry threw the blond a dirty look. Malfoy walked around to stand in front of Harry. He placed his hands on the table in front of him. Harry looked up at him.  
“You’re scared of talking about relationships with a girl a year younger than you but you don’t bat an eyelid fighting the most powerful wizard of all time who is set out to kill you.” Harry saw Malfoy’s badly hidden delight in that statement.  
“Shut up, Malfoy! At least I didn’t have to put up with Pansy.” It was Harry’s turn to smirk, remembering the way Malfoy was constantly hounded by the girl.   
“Girls are a pain. They always want to talk. I’d much rather spend time with boys.”  
“Here, here,” Harry agreed.   
After their agreement, Harry found Malfoy was a lot friendlier towards him. He found their conversation drifted to and from subjects, often veering back to how annoying girls were because that seemed to be a topic they could both agree on. By the time he got back to his dorm, he felt much better about the world and almost felt happier now that he and Malfoy were back to tolerating each other.   
That night, Harry lay in his bed and thought about the time he’d spent with Malfoy. A thought crossed his mind that it was slightly strange for Malfoy to be so ‘anti-girls’. He seemed to be as interested in them as himself but he’d made it quite clear he thought they were annoying and petty and he’d prefer them if they were more like boys in the way that nothing mattered. With boys, feelings weren’t spoken and they just got on with life. Also, it was easier to tell with a boy what was wrong with them. Harry remembered on several occasions when Ginny or Hermione were cold with him and it took him ages to work out why. At least boys told you what they thought of you.  
On the other hand, Harry thought, it was quite nice to think that things mattered and had a meaning. When he kissed Ginny it seemed to mean a lot more to her than it did to him and in some ways that was a good thing. Also, with girls, he was able to take charge. With a boy, he would have to fight for leadership. Harry soon cut these ponderings short as an image of him and Malfoy flashed into his mind. He shook his head, turned over and settled down. Within a matter of minutes he was asleep.   
Harry found that over the past few weeks he had very little time to spare. Each teacher had given the eighth years a massive amount of homework and even saving the wizarding world, and also the Muggle world, did not slacken his load. He also had to put up with doing the paired assignment which meant that even his free periods were spent working. Harry voiced these grumbles over lunch and found that the others had equally less free time.  
“How do you have time to do that?” Harry exclaimed as the others arranged yet another trip to Hogsmeade.   
“Why don’t you?” came Ron’s reply. “We still manage to have time free and we’re doing all of the same work as you.” Harry thought for a second and realised that he seemed to spend a lot more time on the paired project than anyone else. Even Hermione didn’t have Ron working all of the time and that was a big feat.   
“Malfoy does have to get high marks,” Hermione stated as an explanation to why they spent so much time on the project.  
“Maybe he just likes spending time with you, Harry. Come to think of it, you don’t seem that bothered either,” Seamus interjected unhelpfully. They all groaned at his idea of a joke. Harry was about to defend Malfoy by saying that he wasn’t that bad to spend time with but after running the sentence over his brain, he decided against it. It just sounded too weird.  
"I'm just trying to do as much work as possible when he's in a good mood," Harry said instead, and it was mostly true.   
\--  
Days passed and both the Slytherin and the Gryffindor began to almost look forward to the free periods they spent together. They were on time with their work and actually enjoyed each other’s company. Maybe it was the way they had both been through so much that allowed them to get along or maybe they simply realised that the other was actually not as selfish and arrogant as they believed them to be.


	6. Chapter 6

Draco awoke with a start. The room was light and an annoyingly loud buzzing noise filled his ears. After a few moments, when he had woken up properly, he turned his head to the side and almost leapt out of bed when he saw the time. His brain then registered that the annoying noise was in fact the alarm on his bedside table. He stared at it in disbelief.  
“Are you going to turn that thing off or just stare at it all day?” Draco looked around at Blaise. He grinned widely back at him.  
“Why do you look so pleased?” Draco grumbled as he leant over and silenced the clock.  
“Because, Draco, I slept a whole night without you waking me up.” It then struck him. He’d actually been asleep in order for the alarm to wake him up. He hadn’t had a nightmare last night.   
“That’s weird,” he said blandly.  
“’That’s weird!’ You slept a whole night! That’s brilliant!” Draco shrugged, Blaise seemed much happier about this than him. Draco still felt as sluggish and tired as he usually did in the morning but he did find that it was easier to join in with the other Slytherins' conversations at breakfast. Some people even commented that he seemed to be in a better mood lately. Pansy didn’t say anything but he wasn’t surprised. She wouldn’t notice if her hair was on fire, he thought crudely.  
Than night, Draco found it much easier to get to sleep. Usually he was so tired he would fall asleep in the common room and had to be woken up by Blaise in order to go to bed. Then, in bed, he would lie there tossing and turning for hours worrying about having a nightmare. When he finally fell asleep it was restless and he would then go on to wake up in the early hours of the morning after a horrible dream. He’d tried everything. He’d taken dreamless sleep potion for a few weeks until it was taken away from him with the warning that it would interrupt his natural sleeping patterns and the dreams would just come back as soon as he stopped taking it. Draco had argued and grumbled but they wouldn’t let him use the potion again.   
For the first time in years without the use of any potions he fell asleep without any trouble and before midnight. He was awoken again by his alarm in the morning. Draco was confused but pleased. He was glad he’d slept well but until now, he hadn’t gone two nights in a row without his bad dreams in a long time. He wondered why. Nothing had changed; he hadn’t taken anything or done anything differently. Maybe he’d just began to recover after the war so the dreams had lessoned.   
\--  
“We are just under half way through the project and I’d like you all to do a small presentation about what you’ve learnt so far so I can check you’re on track,” McGonagall told the class. A series of groans went up around the room, the loudest coming from Ron who was sitting next to Harry. Hermione seemed to be the only one who looked pleased. Harry didn’t like speaking in front of crowds, even though he’d had experience, and wasn’t looking forward to it one bit. Ever since the war and being the centre of attention for so long, all Harry wanted to do was to blend into the crowd as much as he could.  
Harry moaned to Malfoy later that day in their lesson together. He was in a bad mood and Ginny badgering him didn’t help much. He really liked her, but she did get irritating. Harry was sat with Malfoy pouring over what they would present.  
“I don’t want to do this,” Harry groaned. “I hate everyone looking at me.” He was resting his head on his hands and playing agitatedly with the dog-eared pages of the book he was studying. Malfoy was stood near him, searching for a particular piece of parchment with the plan of what they were doing written on it.   
“You don’t want to do this?” Malfoy shouted angrily. Harry snapped his head up. “You don’t understand what it’s like, do you? If you don’t like being presented to people, just think what it’s like for me! You’re the Chosen One, everybody loves you! Most of the people in there want me dead!” he sank down into a chair and buried his face in his arms. Harry could see him trembling with both fear and anger. He felt guilty and so very stupid. Whilst he was thinking about himself he didn’t imagine what it would be like for Malfoy. He was overreacting but it was true that many people blamed him. He groaned inwardly, unsure of what to do. He walked over to Malfoy and awkwardly stood next to him. Slowly and full of uncertainty he placed a hand on the blond boy’s shoulder. He felt him wince under the touch but didn’t shrug his hand away. Harry kept it there for a moment and Malfoy relaxed under the touch.   
Malfoy soon stopped shaking and looked up at Harry. His eyes were full of fire but they contained no anger that was from the simple gesture. Harry thought he probably should remove his hand but he kept it there, something making him stay. It felt remarkable to be able to do something as simple as comforting Malfoy without being snapped at for it and without flinching away himself.   
“Sorry,” he almost whispered, not wanting to disturb the peace. “I forgot it would be worse for you.”  
“You seem to be very good at that,” Malfoy said but the words didn’t have any weight behind them. Harry laughed slightly,  
“Yeah,” he agreed quietly. He felt guilty for getting Malfoy upset. He’s been in such a good mood lately and he was glad of this and didn’t want to wreck it. Harry gently squeezed Malfoy’s shoulder in what he hoped was a friendly manner and got back to work.  
“Y’know,” Harry started, “I have an idea about what it’s like.” Malfoy frowned at him but allowed him to continue. “In our fifth year, Ron, Hermione and I set up Dumbledore’s Army. Everyone hated me then and I had to speak in front of them.”  
“Everyone hated you?” Malfoy seemed interested.  
“Yeah, after meeting... Voldemort-” Malfoy winced at the use of the name and Harry found that the word felt foreign on his tongue but he continued regardless. “-in the graveyard, no-one believed me. They were especially angry with me after reading what the Daily Prophet wrote about me. I still hate being the centre of attention.” Harry sighed as he remembered. “Anyway, I know what it’s like and I’m sorry I was so...self-centred.” He smiled at Malfoy who returned it with a twitch of the corner of his mouth. They slipped back into silence and the bell soon rang. Malfoy made to leave but turned back before he went through the door.  
“If it’s any consolation, I believed you about Vol – You-Know-Who being back, even if no-one else did.” Harry stared after Malfoy with his mouth open. Nothing could have prepared him for that.   
\--  
“Mr Potter, Mr Malfoy,” McGonagall called. Draco stood up and, glancing over his shoulder to check that Potter was following, walked up to the front of the classroom. Nerves twisted in his stomach but the knowledge that Potter felt the same was some relief. He reached the front and stood awkwardly waiting for Potter to join him. Potter caught his eye and smiled weakly at him before promptly losing his grip on the papers he was carrying. Draco sighed lightly and walked over to pick up the fallen parchment. Potter did the same and as they fumbled over the parchment their fingers touched lightly. Draco snatched his hand away quickly and felt himself grow hot.   
Eventually, they both made it to the front in one piece. Draco looked down at the desk in front of them. Potter had his hands placed palm down on the table but they were still shaking.  
“Okay, boys. You may begin.” McGonagall’s voice moved them into action. Their speech was rushed and they often stumbled over words but as they relaxed a little, it became easier. Draco was very relieved to sit back down at his desk when it was finished. As the other students gave their speeches he paid no attention whatsoever. He was busy thinking about Potter. He was very surprised to see Potter so nervous after being on the receiving end of his cocky side. Although he appeared confident, he was actually shaking up there. Maybe what he said about talking in front of the group he set was true; maybe he really didn’t like being the centre of attention. Maybe he wasn’t so confident and cocky as he came across as.   
At supper that evening, Draco sat and stared idly across the Great Hall, playing with his food. Although his appetite was coming back slowly, he still spent most of the time at meals pushing his food around his plate and staring into the distance as he waited for his friends to finish. Today he was watching, with some amusement, the goings on at the Gryffindor table. It looked like Potter was in trouble with the girl Weasley. Draco watched as Weasley sat next to Potter and wound her arm around his waist. The group seemed to continue their conversation and he saw that Ginny said something to Potter. He shook his head and replied. Draco smirked as he could clearly see the Weasley girl’s outraged expression. After a few moments and what looked like a very heated discussion, the Weasley girl stormed from the room. An exasperated shout of ‘Ginny!” reached his ears as Potter ran after his girlfriend.   
\--  
Harry stormed into his room. He lay back on his bed and placed his hands over his eyes. It was all getting too much and he didn’t know why. It was like he was fifteen again. At least that was simple, he thought bitterly. And it didn’t involve Ginny. Or Malfoy. Supper had started off fine; he was tired but in a good mood. He’d been sitting happily with his supper, content just listening to the conversations going on around him. Ginny had come in late and sat next to him. She’d wound an arm around his waist and Harry remembered feeling the urge to push her away. After a few moments she asked him to go to Hogsmeade with her. He’d shaken his head.   
“I’ve got to spend that lunch in the library with Draco,” he’d said. He jaw dropped and their group of friends went considerably quieter.   
“What did you just call him?” Ginny’s expression became hard and Harry was confused to what she meant.  
“Dra-” he then realised. “Oh.” It occurred to him that he’d used Draco’s first name. He wasn’t even aware he’d been using it when referring to Dra- Malfoy in his thoughts.   
“Not only do you constantly blow me off for the slime ball but you’re suddenly on a first name basis with him?” Ginny challenged him.   
“Well, not exactly. And besides, I haven’t been blowing you off for him, we’re working together on this project and it’s a little hard to work together if we don’t actually see each other!”   
“Huh!” Ginny retorted, “So you’ve just been working together have you? That’s not what Lavender said!” Harry felt anger build up. He knew Lavender had been spreading rumours but didn’t expect Ginny to take any notice of them, let alone think they had truth behind them.  
“I don’t know where she got that from.”  
“Well she must have got it from somewhere!” Harry glanced across to the Slytherin table. He saw Malfoy glancing away and instantly knew he was watching them and wondered why.   
“What are you looking at-” she started and before Harry could defend himself she stood up and flounced away calling over her shoulder, “Draco Malfoy. Of all people.” Harry got up and ran after her, yelling her name as he left the room, not caring that most of the school had turned to their direction and were watching, with slight amusement, Harry arguing with his girlfriend.  
Harry soon caught up with Ginny and fell into step beside her. He kept his eyes fixed on the ground as he walked and said nothing until he heard Ginny sigh loudly next to him.  
“Look, I'm sorry I haven’t been spending much time with you but I need to do this project well for Malfoy’s sake.” Ginny sighed again.  
“I don’t understand your fixation with Malfoy but I suppose you have to keep up the ‘Hero’ image.” She stopped walking and turned to him with her arms crossed. Now it was Harry's turn to sigh.  
“You know I had no choice and you love my hero image really,” Harry said in what he hoped was a cheeky manor but the words came out wrong and the effect was lost entirely. Ginny smiled at him sympathetically and it annoyed Harry how it was somewhat patronising. She took his hand in his and continued walking.   
“Shame it’s Malfoy you’re stuck with.”  
“Don’t say his name like that and he’s not as bad as he was,” Harry stated grumpily. He inwardly cursed himself as defending Malfoy was not going to help at all but to his relief Ginny just simply squeezed his hand.  
“We’ll see,” she said simply.  
Harry turned over in bed. He was back on good terms with Ginny but as he kissed her that night he had the niggling feeling that things hadn’t gone back to normal. And he didn’t know if they ever would, he thought as his drifted off to sleep.  
The next morning Harry was in a foul mood. Even standing under the shower for a long time didn’t wash away his frustration. When he finally gave up and came down to the common room he groaned inwardly when he saw Ginny waiting for him. When she came over and made to kiss him, he hurriedly stepped away. Ginny nearly overbalanced and looked absolutely furious.   
“What are you playing at!” she exclaimed. “If this has got anything to do with Malfoy...”  
“Shut up, Ginny!” Harry snapped, his bad mood taking over his mind. “Stop going on about Malfoy. It’s none of your business so just stay out of it!” he stormed off and left the common room.   
Harry strode angrily into the Great Hall, trying to ignore the glances from the other students. They should be used to this by now Harry thought irritably as he sat down, remembering the times when he was often angry at everybody. As he scowled round at the faces he thought about how he really hated the unwavering attention. Soon students began to filter in including Harry’s friends. Hermione and Ron gave him questioning looks as they sat down. Harry attempted to smile but knew from the way Hermione put a hand on his arm that she wasn’t convinced.   
“Hello Harry,” Seamus greeted Harry with a grin. “How’s Malfoy.” Harry glowered at him and stood up. “Hey, it was just a joke!” Harry heard Seamus protest but didn’t take any notice as he fled from the room. As he hurried up the stone steps, intending to go back to the common room, he met Malfoy half way up. Malfoy gave him a confused look and Harry returned it with a glare.  
“What were you arguing with the Weasley girl about yesterday?” he asked. And you call me nosy, Harry thought with a scowl.  
“You,” Harry spat as he continued up the steps, leaving Malfoy standing open mouthed.   
“Wait, what? Me?” Harry heard Malfoy’s footsteps as he hurried up the steps after him. Harry sighed and stopped.   
“Yes, you. Ginny’s annoyed with me for spending time on this project with you.” Malfoy’s brow furrowed.  
“Why? What happened?” he asked. “I told her I couldn’t go to Hogsmeade with her because I was working with you.” Harry explained but he wasn’t sure to why. “And I used your first name,” he added hastily and quietly. Malfoy raised his eyebrows so Harry knew that Malfoy had heard what he said.  
“I don’t care, but I’m not calling you Harry.” Malfoy almost smiled a smile that wasn’t a smirk.   
“Fine,” he said in answer.   
“Anyway, good luck with the Weasley girl. See you later, Potter.” Malfoy walked away and he watched him go. He also watched him get a dirty look from Ginny as he was just about to go through the door of the Great Hall. She came up the stairs towards Harry. He groaned inwardly.  
“Harry, we need to talk.”  
“I don’t want to talk,” he snapped.  
“What?”  
“Haven’t you thought that maybe I’d rather hang out with Draco rather than you because he doesn’t want to waste time talking about things that don’t matter?” He emphasised the word ‘Draco’.  
“We don’t matter?” Ginny looked close to tears and he backpedalled quickly.  
“No, that’s not what I meant. I don’t-” he started but Ginny had already gone with her eyes twinkling with the first tell-tale signs of tears. Harry cried out angrily and struck the wall with his fist. He turned and went back down the stairs and outside. He needed to go flying.


	7. Chapter 7

“Are you alright?” Draco asked as Potter’s hand came up yet again to rub agitatedly at his eye, dislodging his glasses in the process.  
“Yeah, I just had a bad landing. I think I’ve got a bit of mud or something in my eye.” Draco had to think for a moment but soon remembered that Potter had told him he’d been flying.   
“Do you want me to have a look?” he asked cautiously. He doubted Potter would let him. He didn’t even know why he offered. To his surprise, Potter nodded gratefully in answer. Draco stepped closer to him. The other boy looked across at him and he looked carefully into his green eyes.   
“You’ve got a bit of grit in that eye,” he said, gesturing to Potter’s right eye. Potter pulled at his eyelashes and rubbed at his eye behind his glasses in attempt to dislodge the grit but it was in vain.  
“You’ll be there all day. Here, let me get it for you," Draco offered. He unbuttoned the cuff on his shirt and held the slightly stiff corner in his left hand. Draco gently placed the other hand on Potter’s cheek. It was an unnecessary motion but Draco felt he had to touch Potter in some way and this was the easiest to explain. Potter flinched at the touch but allowed Draco to keep his hand there and stayed silent. Potter reached up to take off his glasses, exposing his eyes. Draco’s eyes widened as he saw that Potter’s eyes were even greener without the glasses. Breaking out of his trance, he gently used the corner of the fabric to flick away the grit. He was about to step away when Draco realised Potter was resting his head slightly on his hand.   
\--  
Harry was unsure about letting Draco help him but his worries dissolved as he looked in to Draco’s sincere grey eyes and pressed his cheek against his palm. Draco looked back at him, his lips parted as he flicked away the grit that had been bothering him. When Draco had finished he didn’t move away instantly, enjoying the warmth of Draco's skin against his. The thought took him by surprise and he stepped back quickly, instantly breaking the moment. He regretted this deeply as Draco was in a foul mood for the rest of the hour.   
\--  
“So,” Harry started. He was desperate to break the stale silence that had fallen over them since the eye episode and he was sick of it. “What’s your patronus?” Draco looked up at him and blinked sadly.  
“I wouldn’t know, I’ve never been able to cast one.” Harry was shocked. After the Great War when the dementors were roaming free almost everyone learnt how to protect themselves from likely attacks.  
“Even after the Great War?” Draco shook his head.  
“I guess I've tried but never been able to. Being a... you know, it'll probably turn into maggots.” Harry was surprised.  
"Maggots? What are you talking about?"  
"Dad tried to cast one at a dementor that you-know-who sent at him but maggots came from his wand and attacked him. The same will probably happen to me." Draco frowned at his shoes. Harry didn't realise that's what would happen. He thought for a moment and remembered back to the troubles he had with his patronus and a thought came to him. Draco didn't want to be a Death Eater so maybe that wouldn't happen.  
“Well, seeing as we are ahead with the project, would you like me to try and teach you?” Harry offered.  
“What makes you think you can teach me? And besides, I won't be able to cast one.”  
“Dumbledore’s Army? If I can teach Neville to cast one, I can teach you!" he said with a laugh. Draco smirked. "and besides,” he mimicked Draco's tone of voice, "you don't know that." Draco looked thoughtful.   
"I guess we could vanish the maggots if anything went wrong."   
“Is that a yes?” Harry grinned at him.  
“I suppose it would be interesting to see if I'm pure enough to cast a patronus,” Draco agreed. “So, how are we going to do this?” Harry laughed to himself as Draco almost sounded eager.  
“You have to think of a really good memory. The best memory you have. Then you say ‘Expecto Patronum' when you have it in your mind. You have to let it overcome you. You could learn now if you like.”  
“What about the project?” Harry leafed through a pile of parchment and soon found what he was looking for: the task list. He scanned down it, checking over all of the things they needed to do. He ticked off the things they’d done. He saw that Draco was doing the same. He threw him a piece of parchment with the amount of time they’ve spent on the project. They’d spent seventeen hours together and they were only four weeks into the project.  
“We’ve done nearly two thirds of the work so we can at least have this hour off,” Harry said. “If you want,” he added quickly.  
“Are you sure? We could just spend another hour working if you don’t want to teach me.”  
“It’s fine! We’ll just pretend it’s part of the project,” Harry said with a smile. He was pleased Draco was going to let him help and it could be interesting too.   
Harry sat himself on the edge of a desk.   
“Okay,” he said. “Think of the happiest memory you have.” Draco closed his eyes and gripped his wand. “Have you thought of one?” Draco nodded in response. “Okay, let it fill you up, let it take over your mind. When you’re ready, say the spell and put all of the happiness from your memory into it.” Harry waited. He watched Draco closely. He had concentration lines on his forehead and Harry was taken aback as a slow smile crept over his features. He pointed his wand in front of him.  
“Expecto Patronum!” A small silver thread burst from his wand. It only lasted ten seconds but it wasn't maggots either. It was a fantastic start. Certainly better than Harry's first try, he thought with a little regret.   
“Well done!” Harry exclaimed. Draco looked back at him, panting slightly from the effort. His eyes shone like Harry had never seen them do before. He looked genuinely happy.   
“I'll try again,” Draco muttered as he closed his eyes again. This time the silver light was bigger and stronger. Harry felt warmth spread over him as the patronus licked at his face before fading. The Slytherin opened his eyes, a small grin lit up his face and reached his eyes. Harry was dumbfounded. He’s never, ever seen Draco smile like this and it was breath-taking. Harry grinned back as Draco’s eyes met his.   
Draco closed his eyes again. This time he produced the most beautiful, pure white dove from his wand. Draco opened his eyes and watched it fly around him for a few moments before it faded. Harry held up his hand and Draco studied it for a second before high fiving him. Harry was surprised as it was a very un-Malfoy-ish thing to do.   
“Do you want to try with a boggart?” he asked.   
“How? I don’t know what mine is.” Draco looked confused but Harry had a plan.  
“I'll stand in front of you so the boggart will take the form of a dementor and you can practice casting a patronus on it,” Harry explained.   
“Are you sure? I know what dementors do to you.” Draco looked genuinely concerned, an expression which Harry had never seen on his face.   
“It’s fine. It’s just a boggart.”  
“Oh, how very brave of you. You’re not going to cut out the hero crap any time soon I see,” Draco said. He was smirking but it faded into a genuine smile almost instantly. “So, saint Potter, where are we going to find a boggart?”  
“I know just the place. Grab your stuff and come with me.” Harry picked up his belongings and piled the parchment into his bag. He held the door open for Draco and they both left the room. Harry led the way to the old Defence Against the Dark Arts room that had been disused since he was in the third year. He opened the door into the room.  
It was just as he remembered it. Everything was exactly the same as it had been. He pushed the thoughts of Lupin to the back of his mind as tears sprung to his eyes.   
“There’s the boggart,” he said, pointing to the cupboard that was shaking slightly. Draco raised an eyebrow. Harry stood in front of the cupboard with Draco behind him. “Ready?” he asked.  
“Yes,” Draco replied. Harry waved his wand and the door clicked open. A cold, black dementor floated out. Harry gripped his wand but the dementor didn’t have the effect on him that it normally did. He was still scared but it wasn’t nearly as bad. The dementor lingered in the air before it began to change. It grew taller and wider and Harry watched as it took the familiar form of Hagrid. As the image defined Harry saw himself lying in Hagrid’s arms. He recognized the scene instantly. It was seconds after Narcissa pronounced him dead.   
Harry’s mind whirred franticly. This wasn’t his boggart. He looked at the image before him. He looked at his still, lifeless body. This was the point where he had moved. He waited for it but it never came. A sharp intake of breath tore him back to reality. This was a boggart. Draco’s boggart. And he was still dead. Draco moved behind him and he whirled around to see the Slytherin dashing for the door.  
“Malfoy!” Harry shouted after the disappearing figure. “Draco!” he yelled, but he’d gone. Harry turned back to the boggart feeling defeated. “Riddikulus,” he murmured and shut the boggart back into the cupboard. He picked up his bag and, noticing that he’d left it, picked up Draco’s too. He left the room and made his way to the Gryffindor common room, all the while thinking up a decent excuse to why he had Draco Malfoy’s bag. By the time he got there he’d decided to simply tell the truth and hope they believed him.   
\--   
Draco fled to his common room and was relieved when he saw it was practically empty and only Blaise was in their dormitory. He breathed deeply as he went in and tried to stop himself shaking. Apart from a slightly raised eyebrow, Blaise said nothing to him as he flew in and sat himself heavily on his bed. It was only when Theo sauntered in that it became a conversation topic.   
“What’s up with you?” he asked.  
“Argument with Ha-Potter,” Draco said shortly, offering no further explanation. He glanced at Blaise who nodded faintly at him; a confirmation that Draco’s slip up was a little less subtle than he hoped.   
“What’s up with you and him anyway?” Theo sat on the bed opposite and placed his head in his hands in a mock listening gesture. Draco threw him a look.   
“I need to do well in my N.E.W.Ts,” he said shortly, lying back on his bed. He heard Theo snort.  
“You seem quite willing to spend time with him,” he said suggestively. “You’ve been in a better mood.”  
“He’s been in a better mood and so have we because he doesn’t wake us all up in the middle of the night!” Draco was about to complain but realised that during nightmares he often shouted out and it seemed unlikely that Blaise was the only one who was woken up by him. He had once put a silencing charm on his curtains but it only lasted a few hours so had little effect. Silencing charms were one of his poorer spells.  
“True,” Theo agreed. Draco looked up at him and watched a sly grin come over his face. “Funny how your nightmares started to stop after you spent time with Potter...” Theo spoke as if he was simply wondering out loud but his words were laden with implications. Draco put his hands over his face and listened to Blaise defending him for a moment before being sucked into thought.   
It was true that not long after Draco started spending time with Harry his nightmares had ceased slightly but the two events couldn’t be linked, could they? He knew Harry since their first year and little had changed between them in the years between then and now. A thought came into his mind: things had changed, they had changed a lot.   
Draco hadn’t noticed the change. He hadn’t noticed how ‘Potter’ had become ‘Harry’, nor had he noticed how he no longer hated him. He certainly hadn’t noticed when his boggart became Harry’s death. A shudder ran through his body. He remembered the scene well and played a part in the few nightmares he still had. It must be because Harry killed you-know-who - he couldn’t even think the name- and if he’d died then the Dark Lord would still be alive. He sighed to himself. It made sense but something told him that it was only half of the explanation. He decided to leave it at that for the time being, however. He had a feeling things were about to get complicated.  
The next morning, Draco sat in the Great Hall fuming. He threw Potter another glare from across the Hall. The stupid git kept looking at him. He was grumpy partly due to having woken up in the early hours after a nightmare. Seeing his boggart had triggered it. The boggart had not only confused him but also scared him and he was trying to stay away from the black-haired idiot as much as he could. He’d already argued with him this morning and it was barely half past eight. The stupid Gryffindor had come up to him this morning and dragged him away from his friends to ask him if he was okay. The cheek of it! Draco had growled ‘leave me alone’ before returning to his friends, who all gave him a funny look and Pansy almost instantly asked what had happened. He wasn’t surprised; the silly girl can’t keep her nose out of everyone’s business. Luckily, they were too busy getting over excited about the new quidditch magazine that had come in with the post to notice him mentally hexing the Gryffindor.   
\--  
Harry was feeling rotten. Having Malfoy’s bag hadn’t gone down well with Ginny and he’s spent the morning fending off insults from her. Eventually she’d allowed him to speak and they were going to talk this evening. Harry was dreading it but he’d put it off for long enough now and he missed her.  
“So when are you going to give Malfoy’s bag back then?” Hermione asked him.  
“Transfiguration,” he replied without thought.  
“Not going to keep it until he comes begging for it? That’d be one way to get him on his knees.” Harry noticed the joke and choked on his mouthful of food. Seamus laughed loudly. Ron thumped him on the back and glared at Seamus.   
“Why would Harry want Malfoy on his knees?” Neville asked them.  
“Think about it Nev,” Seamus said, nudging him slightly and subtly sticking his tongue into his cheek. Moments later Neville squeaked ‘Oh’ and went quite red. Harry smiled lightly, finding it amusing how the same person to slay Nagini was so easily alarmed by sex. The others sighed and continued talking.   
Later, Harry went in to transfiguration and put Malfoy’s bag on the desk beside his own because Malfoy hadn’t got there yet. The second Harry saw him come through the door, he called his name. The Slytherin walked over, scowling the whole way, snatched up his bag and went over to the opposite side of the room.  
“You’re welcome!” Harry called, earning a glare. He rolled his eyes. It probably wasn’t a good idea to wind Malfoy up but he couldn’t help it when he was being so sulky. In reality, Harry genuinely wanted to check he was okay. Going by the reaction he got, he probably wasn’t okay. Harry supposed he’d better leave the blond alone to calm down before approaching him again.  
\--  
Apart from the occasional glare and snide remark, the pair made little contact over the next few days. Professor McGonagall soon got tired of telling them to work together and they didn’t meet up in free periods so their project was neglected. Draco worried about this and, with a lot of arguing, finally convinced Dean Thomas to give Draco’s half of the project to him. Dean was the least stuck up of the Gryffindors and Harry had most of the project so Draco had to do what he had to do. Harry wasn’t pleased and almost refused to give Dean the paperwork but soon gave in when he remembered that Draco needed to pass transfiguration. That night in the common room, Harry had grumbled to Hermione and Ron, who rolled their eyes at him before going into a corner to play chess, leaving Harry alone on his chair. Not long after they’d left, Ginny came over to him. Harry groaned inwardly. He didn’t want to do this now. Or ever, actually.   
“So, explain,” Ginny demanded.  
“I don’t need to explain anything. It was you who blew up at me for doing the right thing and not leaving Malfoy’s bag where anyone could have got it.” He turned away from her and picked up his magazine.   
“But it’s Malfoy,” she answered, as if that was a perfectly valid excuse.  
“What is your problem with him?” Harry snapped.   
“He tried to bring down Hogwarts, he’s a Death Eater, he tormented us all through school, he’s Lucius’ son,” she listed, ticking each point off on her fingers.   
“He can’t help who his father is and he was only a Death Eater because he was forced and besides, he’s changed. I don’t get why you’re so worried about me spending time with him. I can defend myself from him easily. He’s not going to do anything to me. Why are you being so paranoid?” he remembered the jokes Seamus made and Lavender’s rumours and added: “Are you worried I’m going to run off with him and leave you?” Ginny went pink. Harry nearly slammed his head on the table in front of him. “Well, stop worrying because I’m not bloody gay!” he exploded before leaving the room.


	8. Chapter 8

Harry Potter lay lifelessly in Hagrid’s arms and Draco heard a pained scream. He was shocked to find that the scream was coming from him. Without thinking, he rushed forward. Hagrid laid Harry on the ground and Draco sat down next to his head. He took a cold, limp hand in his and begged him to move. He was calm at first, gently shaking the body in front of him but when Harry didn’t move, he became frantic. He yelled at the body and became aware he was crying.   
“Draco,” called his mother as she sat next to him. “Draco, please.” She grasped his shoulders and shook him.  
Draco’s eyes snapped open. Blaise was gently shaking him and telling him to wake up.   
“Draco, you were having a nightmare,” he told him as he helped him sit up. Draco looked around him. His bedclothes were on the floor and his pillow was sodden with...what? Blaise must have seen his confusion as he told him he was crying and shouting in his sleep. He tentatively asked what he was shouting, although he was quite sure he knew the answer.  
“Potter – Harry.” Draco groaned and flopped back onto the bed. He grimaced as he felt the damp pillow beneath his head. Blaise swished his wand and it became dry. Draco closed his eyes. “We’ll talk in the morning,” Blaise told him and swished his wand again so Draco’s bedding was straightened and returned to its place. Draco barely heard him as he was almost asleep again.   
The next day Blaise caught Draco before he could leave for the Great Hall. Draco protested as he was steered back towards their bedroom. He soon gave up, however, as he knew Blaise was strong willed and always seemed to know best. Not that Draco would ever tell him that.   
“May I just ask one question?” Blaise asked him. Draco sighed and nodded. “Why were you yelling Harry Potter’s name last night?” Draco saw his badly hidden laughter and shot a stinging hex at him. Blaise dodged it. “But seriously now,” Blaise’s face grew serious. “What was your dream?” Draco felt it would be easier just to tell him.  
“I dreamt the scene where Hagrid brought Potter out from the forest. He put him on the ground and I was trying to get him to wake up. That’s all I remember.” He watched his friend’s reaction.   
“So that’s why you were shouting. Why Potter though?”  
“I don’t know. Probably because if he had died, Lord Vol – You-Know-Who – would still be alive.” Blaise nodded.  
“Have you had this dream before?” this took Draco by surprise. He hadn’t had it before. He was sure of it. He would remember. Why didn’t he have it before? Draco shook his head and Blaise frowned, obviously thinking the same question that Draco was.   
“All I know is that the bloody nightmares are back,” he said with a sigh.  
\--  
“The git looks awful,” Ron said unhelpfully as Malfoy came into their first lesson. Harry shrugged as if he didn’t care but truthfully he’d noticed that he wasn’t at breakfast and had seen him before Ron. It was almost as if he was looking out for him. Harry pushed the thought away but couldn’t help wondering why Malfoy was in such a state.   
Malfoy coming into lessons grey-faced and with dark circles under his eyes became a regular occurrence over the next few days. Harry often saw his friends prodding him awake in the lesson and Malfoy was often given detention for having no homework. Harry had to do something. He couldn’t keep Malfoy out of his mind and was worried for his own sanity.  
Harry hurried to the library. He needed to finish a piece of homework, which was due next lesson. He’d hurried lunch and had left his friends to eat and chat in the Great Hall. The library was not a very popular place but Harry still wanted the reassurance that he’d be alone. He made his way to the desks along the windowed wall on one side of the library.   
Harry jumped as he saw a blond figure sprawled over the desk in front of him, clearly asleep. His hair fell in a curtain over his face but Harry could still see his closed eyes and his lips parted in sleep. A shaft of sunlight fell over him and created a golden line running from the top of his head, across his face and along the desk. His body rose and fell with each breath and a lock of hair in front of his nose moved with each exhale in an almost comical manner. At first glance, he looked almost peaceful but as Harry dared to go closer he saw that frown lines adorned his forehead. One arm hung over the edge of the desk. His wrist was limp and his fingers were relaxed. Harry stared at his hand. He had long, delicate fingers and his skin was pale. His joints stood out against the thin fingers. Harry jumped as Draco moved slightly but relaxed as he didn’t wake up. The movement exposed a thin leather bracelet that was doubled around his bony wrist. It was decorated with a few silver beads either side of the clasp. Draco moved again and Harry saw that it wasn’t a bracelet after all, it was a watch. The tiny clock face was perfectly edged in silver and Harry was just about to get a closer look when Draco mumbled something and Harry jumped back. Draco looked distressed and shifted agitatedly and mumbled again but louder. Harry turned and ran from the waking boy with the desperate mumble of something that sounded very like ‘Harry’ ringing in his ears.   
\--  
Draco awoke with a start. He could barely remember going into the library, let alone falling asleep there. He gathered his things, shaking. He wasn’t worried about waking up some place other than his bed as he was used to that, it was the fact that he’d had a nightmare and could only imagine how loud it had been. Luckily the nightmare wasn’t very bad and he hadn’t been woken up by the librarian and that gave him a little reassurance. He gathered his things together and checked his watch. Luckily he still had ten minutes until the end of lunch. Ten minutes to do half a foot of potions. Draco groaned as he picked up his parchment and shoved it in his bag. He couldn't be bothered to do it now. He rubbed his eyes and ran his fingers through his hair to straighten it, hoping he didn't look too tired.   
\--  
Blaise elbowed him hard in the ribs. Draco glared back at him. It was the third time that lesson. Draco stared at the blackboard and his eyes soon went blurry again. His head was heavy and his eyes were dry and itchy. It took effort to simply lift his quill to dip it in ink. He heavily rested his head on his hand and made an attempt to concentrate. It was impossible. He simply didn't care what Slughorn had to say. Draco closed his eyes for a moment.  
Draco awoke with a start when a book was slammed onto his desk. Slughorn was stood over him.  
"Homework, Draco?" Draco sat up and shook his head, still half-asleep. "You have until tomorrow morning. Get it done," Slughorn said and walked over to the next table. Draco sighed with relief. He made to rest his head back on the table but Blaise elbowed him sharply.   
"It's the end of the lesson and unless you'd like to stay here all night you'd better wake up." Draco slowly got to his feet, gathered his things, and dragged himself to the common room. He settled down in his favourite chair and closed his eyes.  
Draco started when Blaise sat down next to him with a book.   
"Right, wake up and I'll help you." Draco was curled up on a sofa by the fire. He was almost asleep but not quite. He growled at the interruption.   
"I don't need your help," Draco grumbled. He was tired but he wasn't stupid. He heard Blaise sigh beside him.  
"Go and talk to him. Please. I can't stand your brooding any longer." Draco sat up straight.  
"Talk to whom?" Blaise rolled his eyes.   
"Potter!" Draco felt like hitting him.  
"What? Potter? I'm not brooding over Potter!" Blaise sighed.  
"Well, that's what it looks like to me." Draco grumbled at him and dragged his potions homework from under a pile of books. Blaise smiled triumphantly to himself. Simple blackmailing was all he needed to force Draco to do some work.   
That night, Blaise thought about Draco. It was strange that Draco's nightmares had gotten worse since his fall out with Potter but maybe it was merely coincidental. Whatever it was, Blaise hoped he soon sorted himself out; the nightmares didn't just affect Draco.  
\--  
Draco sat down in his favourite spot in the library. He didn't really know why he was there. Moments later, Potter walked in. Draco cursed under his breath. They'd avoided each other since the patronus incident. Potter sat down next to Draco. He made to move away but Potter stopped him.  
"I need to talk to you," Potter said. His voice was smooth and his eyes appeared to glow brightly behind his glasses. Draco didn't tell him to go. He sat there, waiting. "Why are you scared of me dying?" he asked. Draco's stomach fluttered uncomfortably.  
"I have no idea," he replied.  
"I think you do." Potter reached over and rested a hand on Draco's cheek. Draco didn't move away.   
Suddenly, the background changed into a scene from the Great War. There was a blinding flash of green and Potter fell forward on to Draco. He was still smiling slightly but his eyes were a dull grey and didn't glow green any more. Draco dropped to his knees and hugged Harry close to him. He looked up and Voldemort stood towering above him. Voldemort made to pull Harry's body away but Draco yelled at him and held Harry even closer. Voldemort smiled sickeningly.   
"It seems you have fallen for the Chosen One. He has polluted you. A true Death Eater is never friends with such people." Voldemort pointed his wand at Draco. "Avada-"  
Draco woke up with a shout. He lay drenched in sweat and his eyes were salty. Draco lay there for a minute, until his breathing had calmed before pushing his curtains aside and making his way to the bathroom. He stared at himself in the mirror.  
His eyes were purple underneath and his cheekbones stood out from his face. His hair was plastered to his forehead and his face was a ghostly white. He looked dreadful.  
He splashed water over his face and dragged a hand through his hair, sighing to himself. The Great War was over and Harry was still alive. Why couldn't his brain focus on that? He went back through the beginning of his dream and shuddered slightly, absent-mindedly touching his cheek where Harry had placed his hand in the dream. On second thoughts, he would welcome normal nightmares.   
\--  
"Are you coming to Hogsmeade today, Harry?"  
"No, I have- Oh." Harry was going to say he had to meet Malfoy but caught himself just in time. "I might just go to the library." Hermione smiled at him.  
"Please come with us, Harry. You can't sulk forever," she said. Harry frowned. Sulking? Him?   
"What do you mean?"  
"You miss working with Malfoy, it's obvious." Hermione placed a hand on his arm before being led off by Ron. Ron grinned at Harry lightly before walking out of the common room. Harry pondered over what Hermione said. He thought he did almost miss going to their empty classroom each week. It had become part of his routine. Harry thought back to when he saw Draco asleep in the library. It felt wrong to see Draco working alone.   
He mentally shook himself. This was stupid. He didn't miss Draco. Malfoy. He didn't miss Malfoy.  
Harry caught up with his friends and arranged to go to Hogsmeade with them, much to Hermione's delight.  
"Meet us at the doors to the Great Hall in an hour," Hermione clarified with Harry at lunch before he went down to the library. When he got there, he searched through the musty books and soon found the Guide to Advanced Transfiguration. He pulled it gently from the shelves and settled down with it at the table he and Malfoy had worked at. The hour sped by quickly and Harry was about to leave when he noticed something glint on the ground. He thought nothing of it and put the book back but on his way back past something made him stop. He crouched down to get a closer look. It was a watch. More specifically, and Harry recognised it instantly, Malfoy's watch. He picked it up gently and considered for a moment before slipping it in his pocket. He'd give it back to Malfoy later. Maybe it would make him talk to Harry again.   
"Come on, Harry!" Harry straightened up when he heard Ron calling him. "Alright, mate?" He nodded.  
"Just lost track of time. Let's go." they chatted as they walked to the Great Hall and met the others. Seamus and Dean had decided to join them and they all made their way to Hogsmeade. It was beginning to drizzle slightly and Harry thought that maybe they should have used the Marauder's Map and gone through a secret passage. He laughed to himself slightly.   
Apart from a slightly awkward encounter with Ginny, Harry enjoyed the afternoon. Later that night, they were all sat around a few bottles of firewhiskey in the boy's dorm.   
"Your turn, Harry," Seamus said when the spinning bottle landed on Harry. His words were slightly slurred and his grin was lopsided.   
"Truth." Ron groaned.   
"That's so boring, Harry," he said and Harry threw a pillow at him.   
"You ask the question then!"  
"Okay, I will." he thought for a second, "Why were you saying Malfoy's name last night?" a burning heat rose up Harry's neck and over his face. He absentmindedly slipped his hand into his pocket and closed his fingers around Malfoy's watch.   
"I wasn't," he denied.   
"Sorry, mate, I'm with Ron on this one. You were proper yelling. Woke me up," Seamus said, his voice wobbly. Harry looked at Dean, who nodded, and back to Ron.  
"You're making it up!" he spat out at his laughing friends but snippets of his dream came back to him. It was when Harry rescued Malfoy from the room of requirement. He attempted to explain that to them but they just laughed harder. He sighed and looked to Hermione for support. She looked worriedly back at him.   
"If the nightmares are coming back, Harry, you should tell someone." Harry shrugged. The last thing he needed was for someone to try to understand his mind.   
"It's fine. It was only one," he replied dismissively. Hermione still looked concerned. "Leave it, Hermione."   
That night, Harry lay in bed turning the watch over in his hands. He handled it gently; for fear that, the thin leather would break. He’d inspected it closely and now knew it well. The tiny clock had Draco’s initials and a miniature snake carved into it. It was one of the most beautiful things he’d ever seen. He brought it to his nose slowly, out of curiosity. It smelt of leather mostly, but there was an intoxicating smell of something musky and almost citrusy. It almost made Harry feel giddy and concluded that the smell must have come from being close to Draco's skin all the time. It slightly shocked him that he liked the smell of the watch so much but he thought nothing of it. Harry placed the watch carefully in his bedside drawer alongside the photo album from Hagrid and the shard of the communication mirror Sirius had given him.   
\--  
Draco searched around the dorm room, looking under his neatly folded clothes, under the pillow, behind his bedside table, in the bathroom, anywhere he’d been lately. Blaise found him half under the bed.   
“What are you doing?” he asked, causing Draco to jump and hit his head. He wormed his way from under the bed and stood up, rubbing the bump. Blaise smirked at him.   
“Looking for my watch,” he stated before flopping down on his bed. “Have you seen it anywhere?” Blaise shook his head.  
“When did you last see it?”   
“Two days ago. Mother gave it to me for my seventeenth so I’d like to find it.”   
“I’ll have a look around. In the meantime, have you done the potions work? I can’t do question six. It’s about using copper cauldrons verses pewter ones.”  
“This book will help.” Draco pulled out a book Snape had given him in the fifth year.   
“What page?” Draco raised an eyebrow.  
“Would you like me to write it for you too?” Blaise smiled.  
“Yes, please.” Draco rolled his eyes.   
“Page 172, but that’s all the help I’m giving you.”  
“Thank you.”  
\--  
Harry took a deep breath and strode over to the Slytherin table. He tried to ignore the dirty looks he got from them and the obvious 'don’t you dare do what I think you are going to do' glare Malfoy was shooting his way. He turned the book over in his hands, tightly gripping the leather cover. He’d gone to great lengths to secure the book and this was the only way he could get it to Malfoy before their transfiguration lesson the next day. He could have interjected Malfoy before he went into the Great Hall but he was held up waiting for Ginny. Luckily, Malfoy’s close friends were absent.  
“Malfoy?” he said when he reached where he was sitting.  
“Go back to Gryffindor, Potter.” Malfoy spoke without even looking round.   
“I came to give you this,” Harry motioned to the book in his hands. “It’s a book for our project; I thought you’d like to read it.”  
“What makes you think I can’t find a book for myself? I don’t need your help.” Malfoy waved him away with his hand before adding, “I thought I told you not to be friendly.” Harry stopped.  
“You think I’m doing this to be friendly?” he retorted with a slight disbelieving laugh. “Why would I want to be friends with a selfish git like you? No, I’m doing this to keep you out of Azkaban by making sure you don’t screw up transfiguration for yourself!” as he said this, his voice rose to a shout and his pace quickened. “And even then, I’m not doing it for you, I doing this because your mother saved my life and it’s the least I can do! You might not care, but I’m sure she does!” Harry was aware that all heads were turned at his outburst but he didn’t care.  
\--   
Draco rose from his seat slowly and turned. His hands were in fists and his heart beat furiously against his chest. Anger pumped around him and it took him all he had to keep himself calm. Even though he tried, his voice rang out cold and dangerous.  
“You know nothing about me or my family.” Everything was silent. Potter stood before him in a courageous stance but Draco saw that his eyes were full of dark fear and anger. “Don’t you even dare bring up my mother and pretend that you know her.” He spoke slowly and carefully but as Potter stood arrogantly before him he could feel fury building up until he could hold it no longer.   
Draco flew at Potter, grabbing hold of him and tipping them both over onto the floor. He pinned him down and punched him wildly, not caring where his fist connected. He could feel Potter flinching and hear him yelling but made no effort to control himself and stop. Arms grabbed at him and tried to pull him away. Eventually he let himself be restrained and, as his blinding anger left him, he properly opened his eyes and saw what he’d done. Potter lay curled up in a ball with his head sheltered in his arms. As he was coaxed upright and unfolded, Draco saw his face. Blood dripped from his nose and split lip, and one eye was already going purple. His clothes were rumpled and as for his glasses, they were in a poor state lying on the floor not far away.  
Potter left, with the guidance of Weasley and Granger, leaving Draco to face the consequences. Worry fled through him as McGonagall broke through the crowd that had gathered and came towards him with a very serious expression.  
\--  
“You don’t know how lucky you are, Mr Malfoy.” Draco hung his head but relief filled him. He was fully aware of the possible consequences and he’d got off very, very lightly.   
“I’ll see you in detention tomorrow. In the meantime, you can tend to Mr Potter. He’s in the hospital wing with Madame Pomfrey and he will require an apology.” McGonagall dismissed Draco and he muttered a ‘thank you’ to her before leaving the room and descending down the spiral staircase. He hurried to the hospital wing but before he got there he was interjected by Blaise.  
“Draco! I heard what happened. Oh, you are an idiot! What were you thinking?” Draco looked down at the floor. “Tell me about it later,” he said and made to leave before stopping and turning back. “Oh, here.” He thrust a book into Draco’s hands and slipped away, leaving Draco standing in the corridor. He looked down at the book in his hands. It was the one Potter had tried to give him.  
The warmth of the hospital wing did nothing to sooth Draco’s nerves. He hated apologies and saying sorry to Potter was something he didn’t want to do yet again. It took him only a few seconds to see the bed the Gryffindor was propped up in. He didn’t look badly injured and Draco was glad for that as it would have meant he would be in much bigger trouble. He didn’t look badly hurt but he looked very, very angry.   
Madame Pomfrey bustled him forwards.  
“I left him for you. Get on with it,” she told him before going towards another young student who had been hit with a spell that went wrong. Draco almost laughed as he caught a glimpse of the boy. His hair was green and stuck straight up into the air as if he’s been electrocuted. He tore his eyes away and cautiously approached Potter. He wasn't wearing his glasses and looked odd without them. He then saw what Pomfrey meant. A spell book was open to the page of healing bruises, not that he needed it as he’d known that spell since his first year. Draco groaned and pulled out his wand.  
“You are not going anywhere near me with that, Malfoy,” Potter spat at him. Draco cursed under his breath.  
“I have to. McGonagall’s orders.” Draco moved toward Potter slightly until he was standing right next to him. He placed the book in his hands on the floor so he had both free. He raised his wand and Potter flinched away, warning Draco not to come near him with sharp threats.   
Draco got fed up and cast a silencing charm on Potter and the insults stopped.  
“Just keep still. I won’t hurt you,” Draco said but although the words were soothing, his tone was far from. He awkwardly climbed onto the bed and with one hand tried to keep Potter's hands under control while he pointed his wand at his eye. He muttered the spell and the purple bruise began to heal. One of Potter’s hands caught his shoulder and he was pushed back a little but he regained his balance quickly. After Draco had healed Potter’s nose and lip, the struggling died down.   
Draco pulled up one of Potter’s sleeves and found a bruise that couldn’t be uncovered properly unless the shirt came off. He looked expectantly at Potter who silently yelled ‘No’ but soon obliged with a grumble. Draco helped him pull the shirt carefully off. Potter’s smooth chest was covered in red and purple marks and Draco winced inwardly. He quickly healed the bruises and sat back; scanning the slightly tanned skin for any ones he might have missed. His eyes lingered on Potter for longer than the probably should have and when his eyes met the other boy’s he jumped slightly.   
Draco got off the bed and reversed the silencing charm from Potter. Potter looked back at him. Draco had to stop himself from glancing down at Potter’s bare chest, as if his eyes were desperate to follow the trail of dark hair below his bellybutton. Potter, thankfully, seemed to notice and hurriedly but his shirt back on. Draco felt himself blush slightly.  
"Thanks," Potter muttered.   
"It's not like I had a choice." Draco looked away, desperate to leave. He reached over and closed the book on Potter's bed. Draco glanced at him and saw him look away quickly. Potter sighed. Draco looked away but glanced back at him out of the corner of his eye. Potter looked tired and his hair was sticking up all over the place. He was playing with his glasses. Draco reached across and took them gently from his fingers. Harry looked up at him. Draco breathed in sharply and his stomach fluttered. His mind raced back to the previous dream. Without his glasses, Harry's eyes shone bright green. They almost glowed. After a few seconds, Draco looked away and waved his wand at Harry's glasses. He passed them back. All negative feelings toward Harry had dissolved and Draco found himself apologizing to Harry because he wanted to.  
"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have lashed out at you." Harry's eyes flicked up to his.  
"No, it's not your fault. I shouldn't have ignored you," the Gryffindor said, infuriatingly.   
"Stop being so bloody chivalrous and let me apologize for once!" Draco almost shouted. Harry looked shocked at his outburst but then dissolved into laughter. Draco was taken aback and felt slightly offended. Harry must have seen his expression because he soon stopped laughing.  
"I accept your apology," he managed to say before laughing again. Draco turned away and was about to stalk off but Harry spoke. "Oh, don't be like that." A hand grabbed Draco's wrist. Draco looked down at it, shocked how pale his skin looked in contrast with Harry's.  
"Merlin, you're so skinny. Don't you eat?" Harry's voice was almost concerned and Draco looked round at him. Harry looked at him as if he had only just seen him. Draco gulped as green eyes searched his face, aware of Harry's hand still around his wrist. "You look awful," Harry commented. Draco pulled his hand away.  
"Thanks," he said, coldly. Harry sighed slightly.   
"You know what I mean."   
"Well, if you must know, and I'm guessing you must as you can't help but interfere with everyone's lives, I've not been sleeping well. Or at all, really." he watched Harry wrinkle his nose and could predict the question he was about to ask.   
"Why?" Draco almost smiled as, sure enough, there it was. He didn't really want to answer so he just shrugged. Harry lay back against the pillows and stared at the ceiling. "If it's nightmares, I can relate." Draco threw a questioning look at him. "I was there, remember? It's not only you who's affected by it all."  
"Really? I thought you were too brave to have nightmares." Harry laughed.  
"Now you're just being stupid. What are your nightmares about?" Draco felt himself blush.  
"Oh, just about you-know-who." Harry watched him for a second before nodding. Draco was thankful he didn't press him for more details.   
"So, err, Blaise gave me this," Draco said, picking up the book from the floor. "Do you," he faltered and rubbed his neck awkwardly. "Do you want to work on the project again? Together, I mean." he was rewarded by a grin from Harry.   
"Sure, as long as you won't run out on me again," he answered, smiling. Draco couldn't help but smile back. He felt as if a weight had lifted off him and had a slight spring in his step as he left the hospital wing to go back to the common room.


	9. Chapter 9

Harry was greeted by Malfoy's patronus when he entered the classroom they used as their meeting place. The blond had his back to the door and looked round when Harry shut it.

"Your patronus looks perfect. Nearly lifelike the way it attacked me," Harry complemented. 

"Sorry," Draco said, smiling slightly. Malfoy smiling genuinely at him was enough to make him grin back. It was so rare Harry was taken aback whenever it happened. The dove dissolved in to the air. Harry strode over to the table covered in parchment with Harry's scrawl and Draco's neat, loopy writing all over it. Harry opened his bag and added to it. It looked like they had a bit of sorting out to do. Luckily, they had dated everything as they went along and all it took was a quick spell to get everything in order. Harry was surprised to see it had been nearly six weeks since they began. He said this to Malfoy, who only shrugged and muttered 'feels longer' before picking up their checklist. Harry frowned but chose to ignore his sudden coldness. 

"Let's get started then, what do we need to do?"

Harry and Draco worked on their project, mostly keeping their conversation topics around it.

“how long have we been working on this now? Must be time to stop,” Harry grumbled, dislodging his glasses to rub his tired eyes. Why did textbook font and malfoy’s writing have to be so damn small, it gave him sore eyes in minutes. Harry watched Draco check his bare wrist and grumble to himself before casting a tempus charm. Harry gave him an inquisitive look. 

“lost my watch,” Draco explained briefly. Harry felt a pang of guilt for still having it. He covered up his uncomfort by teasing Draco.

“aren’t watches ‘horrible muggle contraptions’,” Harry asked, trying to mimic Draco’s tone of voice the best he could. Harry’s face crinkled in amusement when Draco glared at him. 

“firstly, if that was an impression of me it was terrible,” Draco started and Harry gave him a mock hurt look, which Draco ignored. “secondly, that watch was a gift from my parents and is more of a piece of jewellery. Not that  _ you’d _ understand.” Draco wrinkled his nose in disgust and Harry threw a balled up bit of parchment at his face. 

\--

After supper Draco went up to the dormitories in a daze. Since the dream he had after leaving Potter at the hospital wing, Draco promised himself he wouldn't ever be friendly towards him again. Yet, he had still gone to work with him. They were just working together. They were there because they had to be, not because they wanted to be. Then why, when Potter complimented him on his patronus, did he want to smile and why did warmth flood through his body as if he were proud to have been given a compliment? Draco made sure he was a cold towards Potter as he could be through the rest of the hour. He wouldn't let stupid emotions get the better of him.

Draco fell back onto his bed and closed his eyes. His dream slowly invaded his idle mind, albeit a little bit disjointed. Warmth filled his stomach and he felt himself smile as he remembered how he had felt along Harry's chest for bruises for longer than was necessary, how his fingers had followed that trail of dark hair lower and lower until- Draco sat up quickly and shook the thoughts hurriedly from his mind. This was ridiculous. He forced himself to push the thoughts away, his heart beating hard in his chest. He needed to get some dreamless sleep potion as soon as possible. His dreams were getting weird, and, quite frankly, scary.

They were almost scary enough for him to question his sexuality. Again.

\--

"What is with you, Malfoy?" Harry asked him when he scowled at yet another random object in the room. A bad mood seemed to have settled over him over the past few days.

"Me?" he retorted. 

"Either decide if you want to be friendly or not. You were the one who  _ insisted _ that we work together again and yet you're the one sulking and refusing to talk to me."

"I am  _ not  _ sulking, Potter," Malfoy snapped. His features then softened and he almost looked regretful. "Sorry," he said sincerely and Harry was taken aback. "I just don't want people thinking we're friends."

"We are though," Harry interjected. Draco shot him a look. "Okay, okay." An idea struck him and he grinned mischievously. He strode over to where Draco was pouring over a book and slid it from under his nose.

"Hey!" Draco reached out to slide the book back but Harry shut it. 

"I want to try something with you," he said, dragging a stool over and settling down opposite Draco. Draco rolled his eyes but didn't protest.

"Okay, what?" he asked warily. 

"Well, after Voldemort-" Draco visibly winced at the name "-finally left my brain, he left some... side effects. Basically, I'm good at legilimency and can connect with people's minds and talk to them through a link. I haven't really tried it properly before but it should work."

"So I'm just your guinea-pig then? And anyway, I'm not really sure I want you in my head." Draco eyed Harry cautiously.

"It's not like that. You should be able to control it quite easily. It means we can talk without actually talking, if that makes sense."

"You're not going to let me continue working if I don't agree, are you?" Harry shook his head and grinned when Draco sighed. "Fine. What do I have to do?"

"We have to hold eye contact and you have to listen to me." Draco brought his eyes up to Harry's. They held the eye contact for a few moments before Draco blinked furiously and looked away. 

"Sorry," he muttered and Harry wondered if his eyes were deceiving him because Draco was  _ blushing.  _ His cheeks were tinged slightly pink and his eyes were trained on the table. 

"It's okay. We don't have to try this if you don't want to." Draco looked up at him. 

"Let's try again. I'm actually quite intrigued to what it would be like." Harry fixed his eyes to Draco's cold grey ones. He focused on their black centres and stretched his mind out to Draco's. 

_ Malfoy? Can you hear this? Malfoy?  _ He repeated in his mind. Suddenly Draco jumped and rubbed his head, looking bewildered. 

"I guess you heard that then," Harry said and laughed softly at Draco's expression. 

"Yeah. That was really weird," he replied, still frowning. 

"Try and talk back this time," Harry told him and they locked eyes again. "Just hear my voice and focus on where it's coming from."

_ Malfoy? If you hear this, respond back. _

_ Hi, this weird hear  _ Draco's response stuttered across Harry's mind sounding like an out of tune radio. It sounded as if he was being talked to down a tunnel or underwater.

"Your sentence isn't coming through properly," Harry informed Draco, who huffed. 

"Shut up and try again then," Draco snapped. Harry grinned at his enthusiasm and focused again.

_ Is this better?  _ Draco asked.

_ Yes, much,  _ Harry answered him, surprised at how quickly the link was improving.

_ It's not really solving any problems, though.  _ The link stuttered and faltered towards the end of the sentence but Harry still heard all of it. It still sounded like Draco was yelling at him from down a tunnel but it was much better than when they first started. Harry was surprised how good it was. He's tried talking to Hermione through it (naturally she was very interested in his 'ability' and was desperate to try out all her Theories) but it barely worked and only allowed a few snippets of sentences and was very quiet. They'd soon given up after a few attempts to improve it.

Harry brought himself out of his thoughts and answered Draco.

_ How come? _

_ Instead of people seeing us talking they see us-  _ The link broke because Draco couldn't keep it up any longer. Harry knew it would be harder for him to sustain it.

"They see us not saying anything and staring in to each other's eyes, which is almost definitely worse." Harry laughed and a smile ghosted over Draco's lips.

"Fair point. Although if you're willing to keep at it, we should be able to talk without making eye contact and, eventually, from different rooms."

"If you've never really tried it, how do you know?" Draco asked.

"Hermione made me read about it," he replied, pulling a face. Draco's mouth quirked in what could be called a smile. 

"Let's stick at it. It could be interesting," Draco said, his tone noncommittal but his words giving away how keen to improve the link he was. 

"Okay, but not today. I'm getting a headache." Harry settled down to work on the project and Draco found his place in the book he was looking at. They chatted casually as they worked and Harry was pleased to see that Draco was in a better mood. He was easier to deal with.

Harry felt happy when he went to lunch and his friends noticed. 

"You're unusually happy after enduring an hour with Malfoy. I take it he's gotten over his sulk," Hermione said when he practically bounced up to their table. 

"Yeah, I managed to bring him round. That and we talked to each other through our minds," he said as casually as he could, eagerly awaiting Hermione's reaction.

"You did what?" she exclaimed and Harry couldn't stop a massive grin spreading over his face. 

"I used the link and it worked really well and I could hear whole sentences and Malfoy wants to work at it so we can talk without eye contact and-" he paused to draw breath. "-and then he can stop being so worried about people thinking we're friends." he waited for Hermione to take it in and reply.

"Wow. I wonder why the link was better with him than with me," she mused. 

"That was all you got from that?" Harry asked, surprised at her comment even though the question had crossed his own mind.

"No, I'm happy that you managed to get it to work and pleased you and Malfoy have sorted things out between you, but you've got to admit it is odd that it worked so well after our failed attempt."

"I guess. Maybe I've gotten stronger. Perhaps we could try again and it might work better."

"Perhaps, but I doubt much has changed since we last tried." Ron and Seamus joined them then and Harry was swept up in a conversation about Quidditch so they stopped talking about the link. Harry forgot all about it until later that evening.

Harry was sat curled up on his favourite chair in the common room when Hermione dropped a pile of books on to the table near him and settled herself down in the armchair near his. Harry eyes the books cautiously. 

"I've been reading up about the link and, interestingly, it appears to be stronger with people who are connected on an emotional level or in couples. Why it is stronger with Malfoy I don't know. Perhaps he is just better at legilimency than I am." Harry took in the information, not wanting to linger on the point about couples. He inwardly pulled a face and guessed it was the latter of the possibilities and their 'closeness' had nothing to do with it. 

"Right. Shall we try again, just to see?" Hermione nodded and turned to face him. They locked eyes and both strained their minds to each other.

_ Hermione? Can you hear me? Hermione? _ Harry said through the link, awaiting a reply. Hermione shook her head.

"I can hear you just about but it's pretty much the same as it was before."

"I'm probably just tired. Try again in the morning?"

"Sure, but I doubt it will make much difference." Hermione pushed a book from the stack towards him. "Look at chapter three, Communication. it's not precisely what you have but the principle is the same." she gathered up the rest of the books and, after wishing him good night, went up to her dormitory. Harry eyes up the book and sighed. He picked it up, turned to chapter three, and began to read.

_ Whatever your mode of communication, be it advanced telepathy between twins, mind linking or other kinds of legilimency that actively link two conscious minds together, communication is possible. It will take time and effort to refine it and strengthen the bond until conversation can be held between the two parties and occasionally the link can stretch over a considerable distance and the communication will still be clear. On one remarkable occasion, a set of twins with a very strong mind link could still communicate when they were twenty miles apart. The identical twins, however, had a very strong bond due to a rather difficult life. This is extremely rare, nevertheless.  _

_ The strength of the communication relies on two things: the relationship of the participants and the type of bond. For a temporary mind link the relationship of the participants must be on an emotional level for the communication to be sustainable and clear. This is why the strongest links are either found in people who can relate easily with each other or couples. _

Harry stopped reading. he decided that, seeing as he and Draco had only just started linking their minds it was too early to tell whether the 'communication' was going to be clear. At the moment it stuttered and sounded like they were underwater. He wasn't sure he liked what he was reading very much either. Sighing, he closed the book and went up to his dormitory.

\--

Draco leant against the table. He’d been in the classroom for about five minutes.  Draco went to glance at his watch yet again, forgetting he wasn’t wearing it. After days of hunting for it and when he’d tried to use accio countless times, he accepted that it was lost forever. It really was very annoying. Where was Potter anyway? It wasn't like the Gryffindor to be over ten minutes late. He sighed and decided to start working without Potter. Five minutes in he looked up to make a statement to Potter and remembered he wasn't there. Draco was surprised by how used to making passing comments to Potter whenever he felt like it he was. If someone had told him he would be almost close to being friends with the Gryffindor a few years ago he would have laughed, or more likely hex them.

Draco jumped when the door banged open. He looked up in time to see Potter wince and shut the door behind him. 

"Sorry," he mumbled. Draco studied him. Although he appeared calm, Draco could see where he'd been dragging his fingers through his already unruly hair and Draco didn't want to push him in case the anger bubbling under his skin came through. Draco frowned at him.

"What's up?" 

"What do you mean? I'm fine," Potter replied.

"So I presume by the treatment it got, the door did something to offend you?" Draco asked smugly. Potter looked at him before flopping onto the stool next to him and let his head fall on to the table with a thunk. Trust Potter to be melodramatic about everything.

"Are you going to tell me or just sit there and sulk?" he asked with a smirk. Potter jerked his head up to look at him.

"Look who's talking!" he answered with a grin. Draco found it infuriating how Potter grinned at absolutely everything.

"Tell me over the link?" he suggested, eager to work on it. Draco had a bad habit of wanting to master anything he tried and, to tell the truth, he was interested about it. Draco ignored the way happiness bubbled in his chest when he thought about being able to talk to Harry whenever he liked, especially without his infuriating Gryffindor friends listening in. 

Harry looked up at Draco and he stifled a gasp when an intense gaze met his. He really did not like eye contact one bit. He forced himself to hold it, though, until the annoying niggle in his stomach subsided and he lost the urge to look away.

_ It's Ginny,  _ a voice filled his head once again and Draco was surprised by how clear it sounded compared to last time. 

_ Yeah?  _ He asked.  _ What happened? _

_ What? You're actually interested?  _ Draco sighed in annoyance.

_ Yes. Spill it, Potter.  _ Harry frowned.

_ That actually sounded like you that time. Basically she came up to me and started trying to be really apologetic and said I'd had enough time to think about it and-  _ The link faltered and broke. Harry rubbed his eyes, probably feeling the same tiredness Draco felt from sustaining the link for so long. Harry looked up and Draco locked eyes with him, determined to finish the sentence.

_ -and said she was okay with you, but I had to choose who I wanted to spend more time with.  _ Draco broke the link; the weight of it too heavy to hold any longer.

"Who-" he hesitated but pushed himself to ask; he had to know. "Who did you choose?"

"You, of course," Harry answered immediately. Draco's stomach ties its self in to a knot.

"What?" he asked, although it came out as more of an exclamation. Harry smirked-almost fondly?-at him.

"Ginny and I have grown apart and I just don't have it in me to care about her anymore." Draco was shocked. He knew Harry had been arguing with the Weasley girl but he was sure they were destined to be together. Not that he believed in destiny or fate.

"You used to be pretty close," Draco said, remembering how he was sitting with the Weasley girl after they had their first hour of work together.

"I know, but we started arguing over you." Draco was shocked.

"So it's my fault?" he asked.

"Partly," Harry answered, smiling. "No, not really. I got fed up of her being clingy and we're just finding it hard to settle back to normal." Draco nodded, trying to understand. "What about you and Pansy?" Harry asked.

"What about us? She fancies me and I'm not interested." Harry raised an eyebrow and moved his lips into what looked suspiciously like a rather Slytherin smirk. "And don't you dare say 'who would fancy me'," he warned. Harry's jaw dropped in mock insult.

"I would never!" it was Draco's turn to quirk an eyebrow.

"Really?" he challenged. Harry laughed,

"Seriously though, girls are such a pain. Why do we like them?" he joked. Draco didn't dare say he wasn't sure that he did. He hadn't even crossed that bridge with his friends, bar Blaise. Harry looked back down at the workbook but Draco continued to study him.

Draco knew better than anyone that people changed over the war and he would be stupid to believe that he had any influence over Harry and Weasley's relationship but it did seem odd how Weasley seemed so jealous that he and Harry spent time on the project with him. A tiny voice at the back of his mind suggested Harry could be bi and his stomach flipped in response. A louder, much angrier voice told him to shut up and stop being so stupid. It told him he was in risk of becoming one of Potter's stupid little followers if he kept this up. Sighing angrily, he picked up a textbook and forced himself to read instead of notice that Potter was looking over at him in concern. 


	10. Chapter 10

Harry flopped down in a chair next to the sofa where Ron and Hermione were sat. Hermione was pouring over a book while Ron was flicking idly through a Quidditch magazine. If he weren't so tired he would have laughed at how they both looked up at him in perfect synchronisation.   
"Alright, mate?" Harry looked up at his friend, fully ready to go on a long rant about how he wasn't, in fact, alright.  
"I'd be a lot better if Malfoy wasn't bloody bipolar," he stated, waiting for their questioning looks. At the quirk of Hermione's eyebrow he launched willingly into his explanation. "Okay, get this. One second he's being all smug and understanding and talking over the link and the next he's huffing and giving me the silent treatment. Honestly, it's so bloody tiring."   
"He sounds pretty messed up," Ron agreed.  
"What's your explanation, then?" he turned to Hermione.  
"Why do you always presume I have the answer to everything?"  
"Because you do," Harry and Ron together. They grinned at each other while Hermione rolled her eyes.   
"Stop reading in to it, Harry. You know he's been having a hard time lately and anyway, I think he's always been like that. We just haven't noticed because we haven't spent time with him. Just be careful around him. Anyway, I'm going to bed, night."  
"Night," Harry said, feeling a bit baffled at Hermione's response. Thinking back, he realised she was right. Draco had always been a bit... unpredictable.  
"Game of chess?" Ron offered. Harry nodded, deciding to just not think about Draco in depth. Ever. He was much too complicated.  
\--  
"Okay. This is too much of a coincidence." Draco looked up from the sink to Blaise. He spat his toothpaste into the sink. It was Friday morning and Draco was glad the weekend was in sight. This week had been long and tiring. His mind was a mess: a mix of emotions, worries, and schoolwork.  
"What?" he asked, before resuming brushing his teeth.   
"You're working with Potter again right?" Draco cautiously nodded. "Well, you're not having nightmares as often," he stated. Draco rinsed his toothbrush and shrugged.   
"So?" he dried his face and walked out of the bathroom, Blaise following behind him.  
"So, why do the nightmares get better when you've spent time with Potter and get bad when you're haven't?" Draco sighed. This again. He didn't know why Blaise cared so much about the nightmares. Draco had noticed the difference but thought nothing of it. He often went through periods of time when his nightmares would lessen, only to get bad again a week later. It was normal.  
"Why does that matter?" Draco pulled of his pyjama top and replaced it with his school shirt. He was about to walk around his bed to get his tie when Blaise grabbed his arm. He sighed and turned to face Blaise. "Leave it, would you?"  
"After what happened last year-" Draco bristled.  
"I said, leave it," he growled, his passive mood fading.  
"One day you're going to have to face it, Draco. And now your father isn't around, maybe now is the time." Draco shot him a glare.  
"Blaise. I am not gay and I do not fancy Potter. Okay?"  
"Fine. Sorry." Draco softened slightly.   
"Just stop worrying, would you? Mother asked you to 'keep an eye' on me, not become my babysitter." Blaise smiled. "But thank you. I appreciate it."  
"Wow, Draco Malfoy thanking someone! Potter has been a good influence on you," Blaise teased. Draco punched him on the arm playfully.   
"Don't get used to it." Blaise laughed at him.  
"Come on, I'm hungry." Blaise urged Draco to get dressed and they went down to breakfast together. Theo met them at the Slytherin table. He turned to Blaise.   
"Did you talk to him?" Blaise nodded. "And?" thankfully, Blaise shook his head. Draco shot Theo a glare and he stuck out his tongue. Draco rolled his eyes but he didn't really care that his friends were talking about him behind his back. They were the only two people that he actually trusted and he knew they didn't mean any harm.   
Draco left them to it and looked across the room idly. Potter was in his line of vision and the Gryffindor looked up at him. The idiot grinned when their eyes met.  
Hello, Malfoy. Draco jumped when Potter's smug voice invaded his head. He instantly narrowed his eyes and broke the contact. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Theo nudge Blaise and raise his eyebrows. He sighed and made a mental note to get back at them later. He was silently pleased that the mind link was good enough for Potter to talk to him from that far away but it still wasn't good enough. They had to make it better.   
An hour later and Draco’s mood was declining rapidly. He had double potions first thing, which he normally enjoyed, and it was grating in him. Slughorn had made him catch up on all his missing work while everyone else brewed Veritaserum. Veritaserum wasn’t needed for the exam but Draco still felt like he was missing out on vital information. What was worse was that he was made to share a table with Potter because he too needed to catch up with work due to Quidditch practise. Draco sighed and rolled his eyes as Potter once again tried to strike up a conversation with him.  
“I don’t know about you but I’d rather not spend every lesson for the next month catching up on work so could you please do me a favour and shut up,” Draco ground out after trying, and failing, to concentrate on his work.   
“I don’t mind, I hate making potions,” Potter added, though why he felt the need to was beyond Draco. Normally he could shut out people and distractions but there was something about Harry that he could not ignore, however hard he tried. “Have you got the notes on the uses of Star Grass?” Draco let out a frustrated groan and stuffed the parchment he was writing on into his book. He sluing his bag onto his shoulder and went to persuade Slughorn to let him do his work somewhere else. Luckily Slughorn granted him permission to finish off his work in the library. Finally in the quiet, Draco sighed into the stone hallway. He made his way slowly down the library, knowing he had enough time to finish his work even if he dawdled.   
The work didn’t take him nearly as long as he thought so he made his way to the common room after showing Slughorn his work to spend the next half an hour doing what he liked. Unfortunately he was in the company of Pansy and she kept lifting her head to stare at him every five minutes. After she looked up for what must have been the tenth time he snapped at her.  
“What do you want?” she smiled at him sweetly and came over, despite Draco’s glaring.   
“I heard Theo and Blaise talking about you,” she stated, her eyes dipping down to his mouth. Draco knew what she was thinking.   
“Just because I’m not gay it doesn’t mean I’m suddenly attracted to you.” Draco smirked as her face fell.   
“But I’m Pureblood! I’ve been there for you since we’ve been at Hogwarts.”  
“I know and I love you.” Pansy’s face lit up. “But like a sister,” Draco hastily added. “And that’s not going to change so stop being so annoying.” She smiled faintly at him before hugging him. Draco sighed in relief.   
“So, what have you got next?”  
After a chat with Pansy, Draco felt much more relaxed. He only had one more lesson until the end of the day and that was charms, which was his favourite lesson after potions. That evening Draco felt calm and happy. As he lay in bed he let his mind wander. For the first time in his life he thought about the future. He thought about what would happen when he left Hogwarts. He would stay at Malfoy Manor with his mother for three years until Lucius got out of Azkaban. Draco was pleased his father only got a short sentence because he would hate for his mother to be alone. He would then move out so he could start a family of his own. He remembered his father’s deal. He had to marry before he was twenty five or his father would chose a wife for him. I don’t want a wife, his mind added as he drifted off to sleep.  
Draco was in his room at Malfoy Manor. He was getting changed into his pyjamas. His room was dark, the tip of his wand creating a pool of light that only just lapped at his bare chest. A noise had him wheeling around to peer into the darkness. A figure was moving towards him. The person came into the light and he gasped. It was Liam. Relief flooded through him.   
"I thought you were asleep," he said, his voice sounding oddly husky in the dense darkness.  
"I was waiting for you," Liam rumbled back, his voice reverberating through Draco's body and settling comfortably somewhere in the pit of his stomach. Liam moved forwards, boldly stepping closer to Draco. He inched backwards, sucking in a breath when his back hit the cold wall behind him. Liam came closer still, his body an inch from Draco's. He shivered, the hairs on his body standing up on end. The light picked out Liam’s features and made his light blue eyes almost glow. Draco dragged his eyes down the boy's face, lingering on his perfectly emphasised mouth before flicking back up to his eyes to meet the massive black holes that were his pupils. Draco swallowed thickly, his body trembling and his stomach writhing. Liam closed the distance between them, pressing their chests together. He placed a hand on the wall behind Draco's head and the other lingered by his face. He was so close Draco could feel him breathing on his neck. Draco moved his head away from Liam’s hand, tilting his head back to rest on the wall. Liam lent down and claimed Draco's mouth with his own, kissing him roughly. Draco's eyes went wide with surprise before, to his annoyance, flicking shut. He wanted to push Liam away but when a hand encircled the back of his neck and buried its self into his hair he went boneless. Liam released his mouth to gulp in a breath. Draco did the same, breathing through his mouth. Liam took the opportunity to flick his tongue inside and Draco moaned softly. It grew darker around him until he couldn't see a thing and the warm weight of Liam faded away until he was alone again.  
Draco awoke that morning and remembered nothing of his dream. He felt happy, though, and knew he hadn't had a nightmare. He pushed his curtains back and got up. As he got dressed and ready for school he got several funny looks from the other boys in his dorm. He wondered why. He was used to getting annoyed looks after a particularly loud nightmare but last night he hadn't had one.   
He checked his face for any marks and his hair but he found nothing worthy of those looks. He looked the same as he did every morning. Before he could go down to the Great Hall Blaise pulled him aside. He had one word to say to him.  
"Liam." Draco's stomach flipped over and he groaned. His dream came flooding back. He felt like yelling. He'd done his best to forget about Liam but it seemed he was destined to ruin his life forever. He slumped against the wall and dragged a hand through his hair.  
"Draco, you need to face this now." Draco shook his head vigorously.  
"No. not now," he said, pushing away from the wall and walking away. Blaise clutched at his sleeve.   
"Don’t do this to yourself," he murmured. Draco gave him a look and pulled his sleeve away. Instead of going to breakfast, he went to Madame Pomfrey to persuade her to give him some dreamless sleep potion. She gave him enough for a week after he promised it was only so he got enough sleep to catch up on all his late work from the past two weeks, even though he'd nearly done it all. He couldn't dream about Liam again. He couldn't cope with it. Not now.  
\--  
Harry frowned as he looked across the room to the Slytherin table. From afar all seemed well but after hearing several Slytherins talk about Malfoy and mention a person called Liam, he noticed all the funny looks Malfoy was getting. Malfoy looked grumpier than usual, if that was possible.   
What's up? He asked through the link, channelling all his energy at Malfoy. He smiled to himself when Malfoy's head shot up. What could have been a smile played around his lips. He looked down at his lunch for a moment before replying.   
Nothing’s wrong. Nothing that concerns you, anyway, he said, snippily, but his cheeks were tinged pink with what Harry thought must have been pride. Harry smiled to himself. He tried another approach.  
Who's Liam? Draco mumbled a profanity under his breath and looked up at him, the colour swiftly draining from his face. Harry grimaced inwardly. He’d unintentionally hit a nerve. Draco's face then smoothed out and showed no emotion.   
Who? He asked. Harry wasn't fooled. He should probably drop the subject but he was too intrigued to do so.  
The other Slytherins were talking about you and his name cropped up. I was just wondering -   
Well, don't, Draco interrupted. Harry raised his eyebrows in surprise. He didn't know that was even possible. Liam isn't important, so leave it. Harry didn't reply. He wondered what Malfoy was hiding and he really wanted to find out. He was pulled out of his thoughts by an overexcited Ron. He hurriedly sat at the bench, grinning widely at them all.   
"You’ll never guess what!" he said quickly, but continued before anyone could take a breath to guess. "Malfoy's gay," he whispered loudly to them. Seamus looked triumphant.   
"I told you!"  
"How do you know?" dean asked, simultaneously glaring at Seamus' outstretched hand. "You’ve not won until I have proof," he grumbled to him.   
"He was saying a guy's name in his sleep," Ron answered, grinning like Christmas had come early.   
"What was his name?" Harry asked suspiciously, things falling into place.  
"Liam, I think." Harry looked across to Draco. He looked sheepish and, well, scared. Harry frowned. Why was he so worried about people knowing he knows someone called Liam? Something must have happened for Draco to dream about him. Harry didn't want to listen to the rumours. He had to make up his mind up about Malfoy by himself.   
Who’s Liam? He asked again. He could almost hear Draco's irritated sigh through the link.  
A son of my father's friend. Look - I'll tell you, but not now. Harry was surprised he was so open.  
Sure, whenever you feel ready. And Draco? I won't judge you, regardless of what other people are saying. Draco glanced up and gave him a rare quirk of his mouth.  
Thank you. Harry smiled back before frowning. He didn't know what it was but his head felt strange. He searched around his mind easily. The tunnel he spoke to Draco down was still there. It normally went away the second they stopped talking. Faint pulses were crossing the tunnel and for a split second he felt a wash of worry that didn't belong to him. Before he could concentrate on it, the tunnel closed.  
"Hermione?" he called, attracting her attention. "The strangest thing just happened," he said, tapping his head. After they'd eaten, they spent the rest of their lunch time talking about it. Harry told Hermione what had happened in great detail and she considered for a moment before hurrying down to the library. She returned fifteen minutes later with a book.  
"You’re not going to like this Harry, but it's the only book I could find with anything like this in."  
"'Famous Couples throughout History'," Harry read and pulled a face.   
"I know," she sympathized. She flipped the book open and ran a finger down the index. "Here we go, Romilda Bagshot and Terry Vane. They were a couple in the 1870s and were both outstanding at occlumuncy. It was said they could talk to each other from halfway across the world without the use of spells, charms or potions. It is said that they could feel each other's emotions and could be permanently linked if they so wanted. It's strange, though. They were very close all their lives. They had a unique relationship. I can understand how your mind was linked to Voldemort but being linked to Draco... well, that just doesn't make sense." Harry frowned thoughtfully.   
"But I can link to you," he contradicted. She looked up at him.  
"That’s just occlumuncy. Yes, you can link with other people without using spells but that is weak. Your link with Draco is much stronger and feeling emotion is nearly impossible in ordinary circumstances. I don't know what's different with him but that's just the way it is." Harry took in all the information. He thought perhaps it was strong because he and Draco had been through similar circumstances but he knew that just wasn't true. Nearly everyone had Hogwarts had been through the same thing and he couldn't talk to them through their minds.   
"It’s like we're soul mates or something," he joked. Hermione looked seriously back at him and his face fell. "You can't believe in that crap."   
"I don't, but that's the only explanation I have." Harry groaned.   
"I knew I shouldn't have told you about this," he said, smiling lightly at her. Suddenly, Hermione's face lit up.   
"Try talking to him now," she told him excitedly.  
"What? We're not even in the same room!"   
"Exactly! If you can talk to him now, you're soul mates. If you can't, it's just clever occlumuncy."   
"Is this black-mail to get me to do your experiments?" Hermione nodded and he laughed lightly. "fine." he felt stupid doing it but he closed his eyes and thought about Draco, picturing him in his head and letting his mind seek out Draco's. He felt a strange pulling sensation and he pictured Draco in more detail: the blond hair, the grey eyes, the delicate lips, the way he moved. Memories of him flashed through his mind without him asking them to. He saw Draco smiling proudly at his patronus, he saw him up close as he peered into his eyes, he saw the conversations they had. It shocked Harry how much he knew Draco. It felt effortless, like his mind had picked up everything and stored it in one place ready for him to recall whenever he wanted. He took a deep breath and, somehow knowing when to, spoke to Draco. The tunnel opened up and he spoke down it again.  
Draco? If you can hear this, try to speak back. Harry waited. He was about to give up when a muffled reply came through. His stomach fluttered and he grinned happily.  
Harry? Where are you? How are you doing this?   
I don't know, he replied truthfully. I'm in the Gryffindor common room, where are you?   
In the Slytherin common room, but that's on the other side of the school! Harry chuckled to himself. He still had his eyes closed, scared that if he opened them he would lose the contact.  
I know! Hermione made me do it, but it's tiring so I'm going to stop now.   
Okay, but Harry? Teach me how to do it? Please?  
Sure, he replied and opened his eyes.   
"I guess you managed it, then?" Hermione asked, smiling.   
"Yeah," he replied happily. He grinned impossibly wider when he realised Draco had used his first name. He happily ignored Hermione’s raised eyebrow that clearly meant ‘that should not be possible’. It was possible and he didn’t care how.  
“So, soul mates then?” she teased. Harry sobered into seriousness.   
“Do you think it’s to do with the life debt? I mean, maybe it’s old magic.” Hermione frowned.   
“Perhaps. But perhaps you are both skilled in occlumuncy. Draco probably had to keep Voldemort out of his mind too. I don’t know what to tell you, Harry. The books are vague and your situation is so rare I’m not sure there even are any true records. You’re a special case,” she smiled.  
“But we knew that all along,” a voice behind them said. Harry jumped and turned to see Seamus leaning on the back of his chair.   
“How long have you been there?” Harry asked, batting at Seamus with his hand. The boy grinned and moved to perch on the arm of the sofa Hermione was sitting on.   
“Long enough to gather that you’re Malfoy’s soul mate.” He couldn’t hide his grin when Harry glared at him. “Either that or you have voices in your head. Again.”  
“Low blow, Seamus!” Harry scolded light-heartedly. “I was talking to Draco.” Seamus made a face.  
“Who’d want his drawl in their head? Besides, how is that even possible without one of those mind- binding charm thingies?” Hermione looked outraged at his attempt at the name but discarded correcting him in favour of asking Harry more questions.  
“Can you hear what he sounds like in your head?” Harry thought for a moment. He realised that Draco’s voice came through with more expression to it than it had at the beginning. It wasn’t quite as if Draco was talking to him normally but it was pretty close.   
Harry clutched at his head when a swoop of fear went through his body. His heart-rate sped up in response.  
“What is it?” Hermione asked worriedly, rushing over to him and kneeling at his feet.  
“I’m okay,” he replied, in a bit of a daze. The fear had gone as soon as it came but it still unnerved him a little. “I felt emotion again.” He looked up at the frowning Gryffindors.  
Are you okay? He asked Draco through the link.   
Yeah, he replied. He sounded confused. Draco’s realisation came through the link. You felt that?  
Yeah. I thought I’d better ask.  
Well, don’t. I’m fine. I just – realised I hadn’t done the homework for next lesson. Harry frowned. Draco rarely did his homework anyway and the fear was too strong for that.   
“He’s fine,” he reported back. He forced a smile. Seamus was looking at him as if he’s just sprouted an extra head.   
“Freaky,” he mumbled. Harry threw a cushion at him. “Hey! Not you, the situation. Not just the link, but the way you act too. Normally you wouldn’t have bothered to check.” Harry nodded, the realisation sinking in. Seamus was right. But, hey, a lot of things have changed over the years and perhaps Harry was a little more caring of people around him. He grimaced when he thought it was his ‘hero complex’ coming through.   
“Exploding snap?” he offered to his friends, desperate to move on from the topic of Draco and stop them looking at him as if he were mad.   
“Nah, I came over here to ask you if you’d seen Dean about,” Seamus answered, looking around to see Dean had just walked into the common room. He stood up quickly. “I’d better catch him before he disappears again.” Harry watched him leave and turned to Hermione.   
“No, thanks, Harry. I have homework to do.” She smiled at him apologetically and moved the pile of books from the table and onto her lap. Harry leant back against the chair cushions for a moment before deciding to go up to the library. He didn’t have any lessons that afternoon and hadn’t planned to meet up with Draco so he supposed he’d better use his time wisely and finish his essays. He bid Hermione goodbye and left the common room.


	11. Chapter 11

Draco leant over the side of his bed to retrieve his book. He wanted to spend as much time relaxing as he could over his lunch break before doing his homework. Gently pulling the slightly dog eared copy of his favourite book out from the stack of books under his bed, he sighed. Trying to stop himself thinking was exhausting and, quite frankly, pointless because, however hard he tried, thoughts would still creep into his mind. He couldn’t believe he told Potter he’d tell him about Liam. He guessed he wouldn’t have to go into detail but knew better than to assume Harry would take that as an answer and not probe further. Sighing lightly and running a hand through his hair, he picked up his book and found the page, willing himself to concentrate on the story.   
He’d gotten through about half of lunch before Blaise found him. Dread filled him when he noticed the Slytherin standing in the doorway.  
“Not now,” Draco said mildly.   
“Yes, now,” Blaise replied firmly, walking over to sit by Draco on the bed. Before he could argue, Harry’s voice came through the link.  
Are you okay? Draco started slightly.  
Yeah, he replied, frowning. How did Harry know something was wrong? Or was he just checking? Why would he just check? Draco thought for a second. He suddenly realised that Harry could’ve felt his dread. You felt that? He asked, slightly bemused and amazed at the same time.  
Yeah. I thought I’d better ask. Wow. Okay. Draco’s heart sped up when he realised his emotions wouldn’t be a secret anymore.   
Well, don’t. He sent back snappily. Grimacing, he made his tone softer. I’m fine. I just – realised I hadn’t done the homework for next lesson. He doubted Harry would buy that but he didn’t reply. Draco, realising he’d shut them, opened his eyes to see Blaise frowning at him.  
“Talking to Harry,” Draco said, tapping his temple. “Apparently he feels my emotions now.” Draco attempted a smile but it wobbled and fell away.   
“Oh,” Blaise said, simply, offering no sympathy. Draco gave him a mild glare. “Well, what do you want me to say? And anyway, you’re changing the subject.” Draco fell back onto his pillows and put his arms over his head.   
“Go on, then.”  
“Draco, you dreamt about Liam, right?” Draco nodded. “Did you kiss him?” Draco squirmed and nodded again. “Okay.” Blaise was quiet for a moment. Draco felt him reach across him and presumed he had picked up Draco’s wand.   
“Is it really that bad?” he asked, curling up in dread. Blaise was as close to him as a brother but this conversation had him wanting to claw his eyes out in embarrassment. Blaise returned to his place on the bed.  
“I’m not taking any chances. Now, did you like it?” Draco groaned.   
“Yeah, at the time.”   
“No, now.”   
“No?” Draco tried. Silence. “Fine, yes!” he almost shouted. He lifted his arms away from his head to see Blaise grinning at him. “I’m not gay,” he murmured weakly, not even convincing himself.   
“But what if you were? Would it really matter?” Draco’s head snapped up to glare at Blaise for even suggesting that. Of course it would matter and he proceeded to tell Blaise why.  
“Firstly, you saw how everyone acted today – and thanks to everyone for keeping that a secret, by the way - and secondly, what if the press got hold of it and thirdly what would my father say?”   
“Is that it? The talking would stop after a few days when something else becomes the focus and they aren’t actually insulting you or anything. They’re only curious. Besides, everyone already thinks you’re gay.” Blaise ignored Draco’s interjection of ‘hey!’ and continued. “Secondly, the press won’t find out. We’re at Hogwarts. The press don’t exactly have free access. As for your father, he is in Azkaban and couldn’t touch you even if he tried. Besides, you’re his prized son and he loves you, no matter what.” Blaise crossed his arms in front of his chest, as if waiting for Draco to dare and try to change his mind.   
“He’ll never forgive me. I’m pretty sure he’s homophobic but he’ll be angrier that I wouldn’t be able to provide an heir and the Malfoy line would die out.”  
“So he’d rather have you be stuck with someone you don’t love just so you can be ‘normal’ and provide an heir?”  
“Yes!” Draco snapped, beginning to get fed up. Blaise didn’t know Lucius as well as he did. It wasn’t his problem. Wait, he was talking as if it was definite when – oh, who was he kidding? In that moment Draco decided that he would stop trying to convince himself. It was exhausting. His stomach fluttered slightly and Harry’s name popped into his head. He fought it back hurriedly. Being gay was one thing, liking Potter was quite another.  
\--  
Harry couldn’t help but think about Draco and Liam throughout the next few days. He tried to make connections in his head but his friends kept throwing him off by saying words like ‘boyfriend’ and Harry couldn’t let himself believe that. Finally he would find out later on today when he met Draco in their free after lunch. A through lunch he couldn’t keep still or keep his eyes off the Slytherin table. Ron kept bugging him to promise to tell everybody all the details, having found out what Harry was planning to do. Harry pushed him away and told him to ask Draco himself. Ron pulled a face but continued to tell him all of the reasons why they should know.   
“-and we pretty much know anyway so what difference will it make? You only won’t tell us because you’re worried about upsetting him and why do you care anyway? He’s a prat. What difference does it make if he’s pissed with you?”  
“Ron!” Harry snapped, sensing Ron was going to continue and effectively stopping him in his tracks. “I am not telling you. And besides, he might not even tell me.” Ron lent further across the table, his face inches from Harry’s. He was blocking Harry’s view to the Slytherin table so Harry had to drag his eyes away and focus on the Gryffindor in front of him.  
“Of course he will. He seems to like you. He actually probably fancies you, which-”  
“Means he definitely wouldn’t tell Harry,” Hermione finished for him. “Leave him alone, Ron.” She pulled him back down into his seat. Ron pouted at her. Harry flicked his eyes to his watch. It was almost the end of lunch. He looked down at the pile of grapes on his plate and shoved a couple in his mouth. They often chose to eat in the second half of lunch, opting to make a start on any homework they had while they were still motivated. It also meant the hall was quieter. Draco and a few other Slytherins seemed to have the same idea and had come into the hall not long after Harry. Harry watched as Draco untangled himself from the bench and stood up.   
Meet you there? Harry asked him unnecessarily because that was their normal arrangement. Draco flicked his eyes up to Harry. He nodded almost undetectably.   
Yeah. I’m just about to go to the library. Need anything?   
Okay, and no, thanks. Draco gave him a minute smile and left. Harry resisted the urge to follow him. Harry put more grapes in his mouth and looked over at his friends for a distraction. It didn’t stop his knee from jumping impatiently under the table and from looking at his watch every few seconds. Talking of watches, Harry suddenly remembered that he still had Draco’s watch in his bedside table. Mumbling his excuses, he grabbed his bag and raced up to the Gryffindor common room. He slowed his pace when he got there, allowing himself to catch his breath when he went up the stairs. He reached his bedside table and opened the drawer. Sure enough, there was the watch lying in the drawer, half on the photo album, half hanging off the side. He picked it up carefully, holding the delicate leather gently. Instinctively he brought it to his face. It still smelt faintly of Draco. And also dust, Harry noted. He gently wiped a few flecks of dust off the clock face and slipped it into his pocket. He was slightly reluctant to give it back. Probably because he might need to use it to bribe Draco in the future. Certainly not because it felt nice to have something of Draco’s around.   
Checking his watch, which was very plain and slightly battered in comparison, he saw that it was finally time to meet Draco and that he was, in fact, now late. Luckily the classroom wasn’t that far away and the stairs did what he wanted them to so he got there quickly. Of course Draco was there already and frowned at him when he came in the door.   
“I was about to ask you where you were,” Draco said, tapping his head.   
“Sorry. I remembered I found this.” Harry pulled the watch from his pocket and held it out to Draco. Draco’s face lit up when he saw it and Harry felt guilty for not handing it back sooner.   
“Where did you find it?” Draco asked, happily sliding the watch back onto his wrist.   
“In the library.”   
“I looked all over for it there,” Draco said, frowning. He froze. “Wait. How long have you had it?” Harry scratched the back of his neck, feeling embarrassed. He wasn’t sure whether to tell the truth and risk getting hexed. or perhaps slapped, Harry thought shrewdly. “Harry,” Draco warned.   
“Uhh, quite a while.” Harry winced in apprehension of Draco’s reply.  
“You bastard! Why didn’t you give it back earlier?” Draco glared at him.  
“I would’ve done but then we had that fight and then I forgot.” Draco’s mouth fell open in outrage.   
“You had it that long! You arse,” Draco spat.  
“Yeah, yeah. I get it you’re annoyed. I’m sorry, okay.” Draco folded his arms over his chest but didn’t reply. “I guess this is a bad time to ask about Liam then,” Harry thought out loud. Draco softened.  
“Look, I’m not really mad. I wish you’d told me you had it, though. I’ve been kind of worried about it.” Draco ran his fingers along the watch strap.   
“I am sorry.” Draco looked up at Harry and offered him a thin smile.   
“I know. You’re slacking though. I thought Hero Potter would return things quickly.” Harry shot Draco a look but smiled all the same. “Now I guess you want to save me from my troubles with Liam?” Draco was making a half-hearted attempt to put Harry off the idea of asking him about Liam but Harry chose to ignore it.   
“Yep,” he answered and Draco rolled his eyes.  
“Fine, but I’m only telling you this because I trust your Gryffindor loyalty.”  
Draco proceeded to tell Harry during the summer holidays between fifth and sixth year he was at Malfoy Manor and his father had some friends and their families round over a long weekend. Most of the children were a few years younger than Draco and the only people a similar age as him was a pair of twins, Bronwyn and Liam. They were a year older than him and were home schooled. He shared a room with Liam and they got on well. Perhaps a little too well. It started with Liam cheekily flirting with him to… other things.   
“-so now I don’t really know what to do,” Draco finished with a grimace. Harry stayed quiet for a moment with his eyes locked onto Draco’s face. He slowly took in everything he’d just learnt about him.   
“You’re definitely…” Harry waved a hand around, not wanting to say it. Draco nodded. “Well, that’s good. Well, not good, okay.” Harry ran a hand through his hair, struggling with the words. “Seamus is rich,” he added with a slight laugh. Draco groaned lightly.  
“About that, do I tell anyone?” Harry smiled.  
“I think everyone already knows.”   
“Well, I guess that makes it easier,” Draco said with a weak laugh.   
“Look, it’s not going to be that bad and I’ve got your back,” Harry offered with a smile. Draco’s eyes widened slightly and he smiled genuinely at Harry.  
Thank you, he said through the link. Harry smiled to himself, not surprised Draco couldn’t bring himself to thank him out loud.  
To put at end of chapter - This chapter was written approximately two years later so apologies if the writing style is a little disjointed but hopefully that’s not too noticeable. Let me know if it is.  
“I told Harry about Liam,” Draco told Blaise, once they had some time alone without other Slytherins listening in. Blaise’s eyes widened.  
“Why?” he asked, incredulously. Draco shrugged.  
“He wouldn’t stop bugging me about it. And – If you laugh or make a joke at this I will hex a cat tail and ears on you for the next month – I actually wanted to. He’s okay when you get to know him, really.” Blaise smiled, biting his lip in an obvious attempt to not make some remark about Draco fancying Harry yet again. He eventually schooled his features into something more serious.  
“So how do you feel about him?”   
“I like him. I like spending time with him.” Draco smiled at Blaise. “Don’t worry, I won’t replace you.” Blaise grinned.  
“You wouldn’t dare. I know too much.” Draco laughed at the very Slytherin nature of that. Blaise grinned at him, resting his chin on his hands.   
“What?” Draco asked him, eyeing up his expression which could almost be described as fond.   
“You seem happy,” Blaise told him. Draco did feel happy. Accepting himself a little more and telling Blaise and Harry about it had felt like a weight had lifted off his shoulders.  
“I guess I am,” Draco said, more to himself than Blaise. “But just because I told you and Potter it doesn’t mean you can tell anyone else,” he snapped at Blaise. Blaise smiled and mimicked zipping his mouth and throwing away a key.  
Draco rummaged in his bag, pulling out the things he didn’t need for next lesson.  
“You got your watch back, then.” Draco looked at his exposed wrist happily.  
“Yeah.”  
“Where did you find it?” Blaise asked, nose crumpling.  
“Potter had it!” Draco exclaimed. Blaise’s eyebrows raised in surprise. “He gave it back yesterday.”  
“Potter? Why?” Blaise asked, obviously very confused, as confused as Draco was.  
“Apparently, he found it when I lost it. And then kept it for weeks.” Blaise looked at him questioningly. Draco shrugged. “I don’t know either.”  
“Wow, he really is obsessed with you.” Draco snorted, choosing to ignore Blaise’s cheeky grin.  
“He was going to give it back but we had that fight so that’s probably why.” Blaise hummed in protest. “Unless you’re going to ask him, don’t put ideas in my head,” Draco snapped.  
“Sorry.” Draco gave Blaise a glare but it dissolved into a smile. “C’mon let’s get to transfiguration,” Blaise said, pulling Draco out of their bedroom by his sleeve. “I bet you’re excited to see your new best friend!” Draco glared at him for speaking so bloody loudly in front of the other Slytherins and Blaise smirked.   
Draco didn’t really know what he was expecting when he sat down next to Harry. He thought he would maybe react to him differently but he couldn’t decide whether it would be good or bad. Nerves fluttered in his stomach when he saw Harry but they dispelled quickly when the Gryffindor gave him his usual friendly smile in greeting.   
“Okay?” Harry asked conversationally, but Draco knew by the concern in his eyes that Harry meant after yesterday.   
“Yeah, though I still kind of hate you for having my watch for so long.” Harry was nice enough to look sheepish. Draco hit him gently on the shoulder. “I’m joking, Potter.” Harry grinned at him. “Though Blaise has some interesting Theories about why,” Draco teased, capturing Blaise’s attention from his table in front. Blaise twisted around to join the conversation. Draco smirked at the blush creeping up Harry’s face as he was stared at by the two Slytherins.   
“so, Harry, explain.” Blaise raised an eyebrow at him, waiting.  
“I just – I didn’t know when the right time was,” Harry offered. Blaise laughed.  
“Relax, Potter. I’m sure you have a very normal, non-obsessive reason.” Blaise grinned at him wickedly. Harry just blushed and looked down at the table. Blaise turned back to his work, laughing. Draco almost smiled at the glare Harry gave him.  
“What?” he asked innocently. Harry huffed at him and roughly pulled open a book. Draco liked to see Harry blush. He did wonder why Harry found the reason behind keeping his watch so embarrassing. He’d get it out of him one way or another.   
At the end of the lesson Professor McGonagall spoke to the class.  
“Next lesson will be our last on this project. You will need to hand it in in three weeks’ time. Before you leave, make sure you copy down the essay plan I will be putting on the board. You will need to put all your research into this essay. Yes, Miss Granger?” Draco rolled his eyes at the hand that had shot up before McGonagall could finish her sentence.  
“Do we need to have an essay each or one between us?” Okay, maybe that was a good question, Draco thought in mild annoyance.  
“You only need one between the two of you but please make sure you both contribute. If I think that one of you hasn’t contributed, you will get ‘poor’ for the work. I’m sure you have all contributed, you won’t be able to answer the essay questions in the exam otherwise.”   
“Great, I have to allow you to scrawl all over our nice essay,” Draco told Harry, grumbling. It was partly teasing but Draco really didn’t like Harry’s chicken scratch handwriting. At least after seeing it so much he could actually read it.   
“Hey!” Harry objected, before noticing Draco’s smirk and hitting him on the shoulder. “You’ll just have to teach me cursive then, won’t you?” Draco groaned.  
Once they’d copied down the essay plan, which was horribly detailed and long, Draco left the classroom with Blaise.   
“I’m so glad this is nearly over,” Blaise told him happily. He nodded, agreeing, but feeling apprehensive at the same time. Once the project was over Harry wouldn’t be forced to spend time with him and would probably stop talking to him. Draco’s stomach twisted at this prospect. He was more than a little excited about having a new friend, particularly one that knew all the shit he’d done and didn’t hate him for it. He only really had Blaise, Theo and Pansy, and his mother, of course. Deep down, all Draco really wanted was to have people around him that cared about him and not the stereotypes surrounding him. That’d been all he ever wanted, really.


	12. Chapter 12

Harry looked up from the stack of parchments he was organising to see Draco staring blankly at his fingers yet again. The Slytherin had been very quiet for the last half an hour and wasn’t bullying Harry into writing neatly or teasing him about how he could find horcruxes but not a specific book. Harry shuffled his chair closer to Draco.   
“Okay, what’s wrong?” he asked, concerned that Draco jumped.   
“Nothing, I’m fine.” Draco gave him a small, obviously fake smile.   
What’s really wrong? Harry figured talking inside Draco’s head might get him to open up a little. Draco sighed.   
We’re nearly finished with the project and I guess… Draco trailed off, biting his lip. Harry gently put a hand on Draco’s shoulder.  
It’s okay, you can tell me. Maybe I can help? Harry frowned when Draco laughed humourlessly.  
When you’re not forced to spend time with me you’ll never talk to me again. Harry’s eyes widened in surprise and his stomach lurched. This was why the Slytherin was grumpy? He wanted to stay friends with Harry? It was funny how Draco was adamant they couldn’t be friends and now he doesn’t want to stop. He looked so upset Harry almost wanted to hug him. Instead he squeezed his shoulder gently.  
“Look at me,” Harry told him softly. Some ingrained Gryffindor part of him told him to stop comforting his previous arch enemy but he ignored it. After the war the hatred he felt for Draco faded and Harry felt no negative emotions towards the man in front of him, looking down at his hands. When Draco resisted his request, Harry guided his chin up with his hand. “You are my friend, Draco. Like how I’m friends with Ron and Hermione, and Merlin knows we’ve been through as much together.” Harry watched Draco squirm and blush, his eyes fixed downwards. Harry could barely believe he was saying this but it felt so right. “I promise I’ll still talk to you after we finish this.”  
Even if it’s just through here, he added for good measure.   
Okay, thank you, Draco replied gratefully. Harry noticed wet warmth on the hand still gently holding Draco’s chin and moved it up a little more. Draco’s eyes flicked to Harry’s. They were shimmering with tears, a few of which had escaped and run down Draco’s pale face, reaching Harry’s hand. Harry didn’t know what came over him but he leant across and pulled the blond into a hug. Draco stiffened and Harry began to panic that he’d done the wrong thing but Draco relaxed and slid his arms around Harry’s waist, stopping Harry pulling away. The two men, from rival houses, on rival sides with rival friends held each other for a moment. Tears almost sprung to Harry’s own eyes when he thought how the relationship had changed with the blond in his arms.   
“Okay, you can let go of me now, Potter,” Draco told him, his breath tickling Harry’s neck and causing his stomach to flutter. He quickly let go of Draco, blushing furiously. He gave the blond a sheepish grin.  
“Sorry.” Draco gave him a genuine smile, which only caused his stomach to flutter more with happiness.   
“People might think you actually care about me,” Draco teased. Harry gave him a mock glare, stuck out his tongue and scooted his chair back to the other side of the table with a screech. Draco perked up considerably after their talk and they playfully teased and chatted as they worked. All they really had to do now was organise their notes and start writing up.   
At the end of their free period Harry was about to walk out the door of their classroom when Draco stopped him by grabbing his wrist.   
“Thank you. For saying those things earlier.” Harry smiled broadly at him.  
“It’s okay. I meant it, you know.” Draco nodded, smiling. Harry placed a hand gently on Draco’s shoulder and they left the room together.   
I like it when you touch me Draco almost whispered through the link. A lot of people are afraid to. Harry narrowed his eyes at the people mentioned, feeling bad that he was once one of them.  
Because they think you’ll attack them? He asked, since that would be the reason he’d have stayed away from Draco.  
Yeah. Draco replied, sighing. Or catch something. Probably worse when they find out I’m gay.  
I won’t. Harry threw his arm around Draco’s shoulders, which was hard since the blond was several inches taller than him, and pulled him close. Harry jumped when he heard a wolf whistle from behind them. Zabini approached them.  
“I was going to come and collect you, Draco, so we could go to supper together but it looks like you’re otherwise occupied.” Draco tried to wiggle out of Harry’s grasp but Harry held him tightly. He threw his other arm around Zabini as he walked alongside.   
“You’re just jealous,” Harry teased, feeling too happy to risk angering the Slytherin. Draco talked about Zabini a surprising amount and Harry figured the playful Slytherin couldn’t hate him too much.  
“Unhand me, Potter!” Zabini demanded, but with no heat behind it and he was grinning. Harry squirmed when Draco dug his fingers into a ticklish spot in his ribs, laughing.   
“Okay, okay.” Harry released the ruffled Slytherins.   
“Insufferable Gryffindor,” Zabini grumbled, smoothing down his clothes. “I don’t know how you put up with him, Draco.”  
“Me neither,” Draco agreed, trying to persuade his face to glare at Harry rather than showing his amusement.  
“Hey!” Harry pouted.   
“Care to walk with us to the great hall, Potter?” Zabini asked. Harry didn’t miss the happy look Draco gave him.   
“Okay but only if you remember the sorting hat wanted to put me in Slytherin so you can’t insult me.” Zabini groaned.  
“Imagine having to put up with you all the time,” he teased.  
As it turned out, Harry found quite a lot to talk about with Zabini and his (very surprisingly) playful, teasing nature was infectious.   
Sit with us until Granger and Weasley arrive? Draco asked, eyeing the nearly completely empty hall. Harry frowned.  
Aren’t you worried about people talking? Draco shrugged.  
There aren’t many people here yet. Harry grinned at Draco.  
“Okay.” Harry followed the Slytherins to the ‘enemy’ table. They settled down and Zabini pulled out a Quidditch magazine. It was the latest issue that was supposed to come out in a weeks’ time so Harry had no idea how Zabini had it.  
“Harry? What are you doing?” Harry begrudgingly turned his attention from the article he was reading over Zabini’s shoulder to Ron and Hermione.   
“Look at this!” Harry exclaimed, pointing to the magazine. Ron immediately plonked himself down next to Harry and pulled the magazine over.  
“Hey!” Zabini exclaimed, alerting the Gryffindors to his existence.  
“How did you get this?” Ron asked him.   
“It’s alright, Granger, we don’t bite,” Blaise said to Hermione, who was hovering uncertainly. She hesitantly sat down.  
“I’m guessing you and Harry are closer than we’ve been told then?” She frowned at Draco but looked happy.   
“I’m sorry about how I’ve treated you over the years. I hope you can forgive me for my bad behaviour,” Draco said, seriously. He felt like he couldn’t say a word to her before he said that. He’d already made a formal apology but, not that he would admit it, guilt gnawed at him whenever he saw her and anyone else he’d hurt. Hermione blushed with surprise.  
“I - yes, of course. I accept your apology.” She held out her hand and Draco shook it. Harry watched them happily. This certainly made things a lot easier.  
“so, why are you over here, Harry?”  
“I walked here with Draco and Zabini and I was waiting for you,” Harry explained with a shrug.   
Draco suddenly groaned and Harry looked behind him to see Seamus, Dean and Neville walking towards them. Ron and Harry successfully diffused the tension and they plonked down on the bench.   
You okay? Harry asked Draco.  
Of course, Potter, I can handle myself. He glared at him playfully before smiling. Thank you for asking. Harry gave him a smile. Dean and Ron occupied themselves with Quidditch. Unbeknownst to Harry, Seamus and Blaise were betting whether and when Harry and Draco would finally realise their crush on each other.   
“Why is our table full of Gryffindors?” Everyone looked up to see Theo and Pansy standing over them, confusion on their faces.   
“Harry started it!” Ron told them, pointing to where Harry was sitting uncomfortably.  
“Draco asked me to!” Harry protested. Theo and Pansy gave each other a knowing look.  
“Okay,” Pansy said simply, and sat down next to Draco. She gave him a hug and kissed him on the cheek. Conversation around the table started up again and Harry was confused, but pleased, to see no-one was fighting.   
“Dean, Ron, you owe me ten galleons!” Seamus suddenly announced. Both boys mentioned turned to stare at Draco.  
“No way, it can’t be true!” Ron glared at Seamus.  
“It is! Blaise says he is!” Harry frowned in confusion, looking between the celebrating Seamus and Draco.  
“Blaise!” Draco exclaimed angrily, cottoning on to what they meant before Harry did.  
“Sorry, Draco.” Blaise looked sheepish. “It just sort of just slipped out.” Draco shot a hex at Blaise and he yelped.  
“Sorry, it sort of just slipped out,” Draco said with a smirk. At least he didn’t have to worry about coming out any more.   
xx  
Draco lay in bed, unable to sleep. That day had been a very, very weird day. First, he annoying spilled his guts to Potter, and then a bunch of over friendly Gryffindors found out something he only just came to terms with. He was more than a little annoyed with Blaise for that. Thankfully, after a bit of disbelief from some and a ‘finally’ from others, they accepted it. Maybe it wasn’t so bad to have a load of furiously loyal Gryffindors on his side.   
Draco surprisingly enjoyed their company. Of course, he thought they were horribly loud, messy and uncouth, nothing that his family were tolerable of, but he didn’t hate it as much as he was expecting to. He found it made an almost relieving change to the pure   
blood aristocrat behaviour he was so familiar with. He was surprised that Blaise’s playfulness, which he was so taken aback by when they first met, was actually toned down, and being around the Gryffindors had brought it out in him. It was probably a stupid thought but he felt like he could breathe more easily around them. They were so carefree. They never had to worry about what they were saying or how they acted. Draco enjoyed having good manners and acting like the heir of an important family that he was but after watching them he did wish he was allowed to be a proper teenager. He suddenly remembered that he had got out of Harry’s grip by tickling him and cringed, covering his rapidly heating face with his hands. It was too easy to be caught up in the teasing and forget who he was supposed to be.  
Relaxing, Draco found a comfortable position to lie in and found himself daydreaming about what it would have been like to go through Hogwarts without the pressure of keeping up appearances. He fell asleep quickly.   
Xx  
“No Malfoy then?” Ron teased when Harry took his seat at the Gryffindor table. The Gryffindors had been in a state of excitement since the evening at the Slytherin table. Seamus was also considerably richer. Apart from the bets, no one had said one word about Draco being gay. What Harry didn’t know was that rumours had spread around the castle like wildfire. The biggest one was that Harry had broken up with Ginny to be with Draco and a lot of people were betting for a happy announcement by the end of the week.   
“You just want to befriend Zabini so you can get The Quaffle a week early,” Harry teased.  
“I don’t know how he gets it!” Ron pouted.   
“He’s rich, Ron, that’s how,” Neville told him. “I’d befriend Zabini for his estate though. It’s been said the Zabini manor has the best gardens in the whole of England.”  
“Well, I’d befriend him for the dirt on Malfoy,” Seamus said with a wink. “Oh, wait, we have Harry for that now!” Seamus had hexed Harry for not spilling about Draco’s sexuality sooner, but forgiven him quickly so that he could tease him about it being to keep his own sexuality a secret. Which Harry had denied furiously, of course.   
“Why not befriend him?” Dean asked. “And Malfoy, and the other Slytherins, of course.” A week ago they would have all looked at Dean like he’d suggested they go skinny dipping with the giant squid in February but they all nodded thoughtfully.   
“If I get invited to their table again I’ll invite you,” Harry told them. Truthfully, he was a little torn between whether he wanted them there or not. His stomach twisted uncomfortably at the thought of his friends experiencing the side of Draco that only he, and Draco’s friends, had. He pushed the feeling away roughly.   
Harry suddenly felt the weight of worry in his stomach and he immediately sought out Draco. He was frowning down at a letter.  
Okay? Draco glanced up at him.  
My mother is ill. I have to go and see her. Harry tried to send feelings of comfort towards Draco.  
I’m sorry. I hope she’ll be okay. Draco smiled weakly.  
Me too.  
“Harry-” Ron started. Harry put his finger to his lips.  
When are you leaving?   
This afternoon. For at least three days. Harry frowned with worry. At least it was Saturday so he’d only miss one or two days of school.   
Say goodbye before you leave? Draco smiled at him.  
Okay. Harry broke off the link. Though, he thought with a start, that now it felt more like putting it on mute. He turned his attention to his gawping friends.  
“Okay, what were you going to say Ron?”   
“I was going to ask you if you wanted to go flying with us and toss a quaffle around but now I want to know what that was.”  
“Can I tell them?” Hermione asked excitedly and Harry smiled fondly at her.   
“Go ahead.”   
Hermione launched into a detailed description of everything she’d learnt about Harry’s ability. Harry thought she’d omitted the fact that his link with Draco was out of the ordinary but instead she finished her speech with it. Seamus raised an eyebrow and Harry glared at him.  
“We’ve actually discussed that its more to do with our history,” Harry interjected, glaring at Hermione, who had the courtesy to look a little sheepish.   
“Sure, sure,” Seamus said with a smirk.  
“So what were you talking about, Harry?” Harry turned his attention to Ron, who was looking a little confused still but also interested.   
“I felt his worry and he said he has to go home because his mother is ill.”  
“You’re still feeling his emotions?” Hermione asked. Harry nodded.  
“Only when it’s particularly strong. I’ve only felt it maybe three times.”  
“That must be so strange.” Harry shrugged.   
“It is, but I like it.”  
“You really are obsessed with him, aren’t you?” Ron asked, but it was said like a statement. Harry snorted. He was used to that accusation and he maybe was. He couldn’t help it. The blond Slytherin had always intrigued him and he loved extracting smiles and emotions from the stone cold man. He smiled to himself.  
“Well I think it’s about time house unity was promoted,” Hermione said with a smile.  
“It’s got much better since the War ended,” Ron added.  
“Except, I don’t think it has, Ron. A lot of Slytherins were exposed as being or having families that are death eaters so if anything, people have been more hostile towards them,” Hermione argued. “Maybe if the public and the rest of the school sees us accepting Draco and the others, they will accept them too.” Harry hadn’t really thought about the implications of his now public friendship with Draco. He hadn’t seen a Daily Prophet for at least two years. Or any other source of wizarding news, except the Quibbler. He suddenly wanted to see if anyone was talking about it.  
“Has anyone seen anything in the paper, then?” He asked.  
“There isn’t much. Only a couple of statements from students and a bit of speculation. Surprisingly, none of it is horribly negative.” Harry made a surprised sound at that. “Probably because McGonagall is a force to be reckoned with if anyone speaks ill of her favourite student.” Harry grinned at that.  
“Are we going out to fly then?” Dean interrupted their conversation impatiently, standing up. Harry hummed in agreement, shoved a piece of toast in his mouth and stood up to follow the others.   
He had a good morning in the air with his friends. Even Hermione had stayed with them for about an hour. She even borrowed a school broom and came up with them but she stayed away from where the quaffle could reach her. Harry had missed Quidditch horribly, he’d deferred the captaincy to Ginny, which was probably the highlight of the Weasley family’s year, due to it being too much stress. Even though they were on okay terms, now that they were officially no longer together Harry had little connection to the Quidditch team. That had been hard at the beginning but he was much more relaxed for it. Hermione had excused herself when their game became a little more competitive, giving the others a lecture about how it was March and they really should be revising for their N.E.W.Ts, and the others played happily, taking turns as the keeper.   
They landed, hot and hungry, and put their things away just before lunch. Harry almost forgot to return the broom to the broom cupboard, having not had to for most of his time at Hogwarts. Harry was still upset over the loss of his firebolt. He’d got it from Sirius and it’d been through so much with him. Harry pushed the sad thoughts from his head and breathed slowly like his mind healer had told him to. He was due for another meeting with him, he could tell. It had begun drizzling so they hurried from the broom cupboard to the warm castle. They were all damp, sweaty and muddy so they made their way up to the Gryffindor tower.   
Harry had just stepped out of the shower when Draco spoke to him through his mind.   
I’m nearly ready to go, meet me by the Great Hall?  
Give me five minutes. Harry dressed quickly and rushed to meet Draco. He was stood with a case by the foot of the stairs. His shoulders drooped and his face was pale. Harry immediately drew him into a hug.  
“It’ll be okay.” Draco hugged him back tightly.   
“Thank you, Harry.” Draco continued to hold on to him, one arm around his neck and his face buried into him. Harry rubbed his back gently.   
“What’s wrong?” Harry asked, softly.   
“I just- I can’t lose my mother too.” Harry hugged him tighter.   
“She’ll be okay.” Harry felt Draco nod. “Can I walk you to the apparition point?”  
“That’d be nice.”   
The apparition point was a new, heavily warded place safely inside the school grounds where students could apparated out. With the older students in the castle it was very useful for students attending appointments or going home. Like Harry, many students were seeing mind healers. The war had taken a huge toll on all of the seventh year in particular and many of them were suffering from PTSD. Harry knew that without help, the majority of his friends would be nothing like their old selves without help. It had truly terrified him to see them zombielike and always close to tears before they’d had help.   
Harry gave Draco another quick hug before he walked up the steps of the beautiful gazebo. He waved once and apparated away. Harry felt the link between them stretch and snap back like a rubber band and suddenly the presence of Draco in his mind that he hadn’t even realised had built up had gone. Anxiety surged through Harry. He shuddered, not liking the fact that Draco was too far away at all. He walked slowly back to the castle and met his friends in the Great Hall.  
“Where did you go?” Ron asked him.   
“Saying bye to Draco,” Harry answered, but his mind was far away. He hoped Draco would be okay. He felt panicky and jumpy because he couldn’t talk to Draco and check that he was okay. He couldn’t really send an owl either, it would take a whole day and a half to get a reply. Harry sighed. His mind was whirring and he tried to use the mechanisms he’d been taught to control it but they weren’t working. He supposed he should make a mind healer appointment soon. He’d send an owl after lunch.   
He picked at his sandwich, trying to engage in the conversations around him. When he was fed up with his wandering mind and lack of appetite, he stood up.   
“Are you okay, Harry?” He nodded to Hermione, whose face was creased with concern.   
“yeah, I’m just tired and I’m going to make a mind healer appointment.” His friends nodded in understanding and he was very glad they were all in the same boat so he didn’t feel so broken for needing help.   
Harry made his way back outside to the owlery. The soft hoots from the owls calmed him. He sat down at one of the few writing desks and pulled out a quill, ink and parchment from the drawer in it. He wrote the letter quickly, outlining the reason for the appointment and when he was available. He put a quick spell on the ink to make it dry completely and folded the letter. He addressed the envelope and sealed it with the stick of wax and stamp on the desk. He called one of the school’s owls and told them where to take the letter. He watched the owl fly out of the window. He couldn’t bring himself to buy another owl after Hedwig. Harry sighed and thought he should probably distract his mind by doing homework and made his way up to the Gryffindor tower.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chapter contains mention of hospitals and therapy. Also contains PTSD flashbacks and crying.

For the next couple of days Harry took life slowly. He tried to keep up with his friends and get his work done, but he mainly just wanted to crawl into bed. Harry realised that the drama with Draco had distracted him from his problems and now the blond was miles away everything came back. Harry hadn’t realised it had gone but he wasn’t welcoming its return. He could feel the fog taking over his brain again. He was also worried about Draco. He hoped he and his mother were okay.   
xx  
Harry had felt sadness coming through the link for the last half an hour and he was beginning to get frantic. He’d been half studying, half chatting with his friends when the link with Draco suddenly snapped back into place and he was punched in the stomach with panic and sadness.it was so strong Harry was nearly brought to tears himself and his own panic made his body shake. Hermione had to ask three times why he’d suddenly frozen and gone ghostly pale before his brain registered it. His friends had asked what had happened and tried to calm him down but Harry was desperate to search the school for Draco and help him. He’d tried asking Draco through the link what was wrong and where he was but got shoved out so strongly he hadn’t dared try again.  
“I have to find him,” he told them over his shoulder on his way out of the common room. Being up and rushing through the corridors helped his nerves a little but his heart was still hammering in his chest with anxiety. He knew most of the panic was Draco’s but he couldn’t ignore it for a second longer. He ran to the library, then the great hall, then the astronomy tower. He thanked Merlin he was still fairly fit from the war so he was able to move as quickly for as long as he did. When none of the places he could think of contained Draco he made his way to the dungeons. He didn’t think Draco was in his common room or he was sure he would have been calmer. He also had a feeling in the pit of his stomach that Draco was suffering alone and it only made him more desperate. He banged on the brick wall impatiently. A young girl eventually opened the door for him.   
“Is Blaise around?” he asked, immediately. She huffed.   
“What do you want?” Harry growled in frustration.  
“Just get him for me, please.” She must have seen the worry on his face because she nodded and disappeared. A few minutes later Blaise was with him.   
“Have you seen Draco?” Blaise asked immediately and Harry’s stomach sank.  
“I was going to ask you the same question. He’s definitely back, right?” Blaise nodded.  
“Haven’t seen much of him though.”  
“I’ll keep looking for him. It’s getting late.” Blaise nodded.  
“I’ll stay here in case he comes back.” Blaise was mainly staying because he, and probably everyone else in the castle, saw how much Harry and Draco cared for one another. He wanted to comfort Draco but after seeing the almost frantic expression on Harry’s face he decided to let him find Draco. It was obvious he’d never settle if he didn’t. Blaise smiled secretly to himself while Harry hurried off, feeling almost affectionate towards him. Blaise was glad Draco had found someone that cared about him so much. He also made a promise to hex Harry into the next century if he hurt Draco.  
Harry could have hit himself for forgetting the Marauder’s map. It would have made the search so much quicker. He considered going to get it but it was half way across the castle and up so many stairs. He decided to check the Room of Requirement since it wouldn’t show up on the map anyway and if Draco wasn’t there he’d go and get it. He reached the place in the corridor in record time, his worry speeding him up. He thought hard about Draco, about his smiles, the teasing between them, his tears. A wave of sadness rushed through the link. Relief flooded through him when the door appeared. He felt a little bad for barging in but he had to make sure Draco was okay.  
The room was much like a sitting room, with a fire and comfortable armchairs. It was mostly green, Harry noted with a small smile. Harry heard a gasping sob and searched around the room. Draco was sat against the wall by the bookcase as if he’d gone to get a book but stopped half way. He had his head on his knees and was curled up into a surprisingly small ball for such a lanky body. Harry did the only thing he could do. He sat beside him and pulled him into a hug. Draco jumped a little but leant his body weight on Harry, one hand darting out to grab Harry’s jumper. Harry rubbed Draco’s back gently. Eventually, his harsh sobs turned into snuffles.   
“I’m sorry,” Draco choked out. His voice was rough like his throat was lined with sandpaper.   
“Shh, it’s okay. It’s okay to cry.”  
“Sorry you had to see it.” His voice was quiet and Harry probably wouldn’t have heard it if he was more than a foot away. His arms tightened around the blond.  
“I don’t mind, I promise.” They sat quietly for a minute. Harry gently let go of Draco. He’d spotted a small kitchenette in the room when he’s come in and he thought tea would help in this situation. He helped Draco sit up straight again and brushed a tear from his cheek. He went to the kitchenette and set about making tea for them both. Using spells to speed up the process, he soon pressed a teacup into Draco’s trembling hands and pushed a tissue box towards him. Draco nodded his thanks and gently blew the steam rising from the cup.   
“Is it your mum?” Harry asked, gently. Draco thankfully shook his head.  
“Just… being back at the manor brought everything back.”  
“I understand.” And he really did. He remembered the first, and only, time he visited 12 Grimmauld Place after defeating Voldemort. He couldn’t take a step without seeing something that reminded him of everything that happened, of all the people that were no longer with him. He felt his own tears burning his eyes. He’d also only been to the Burrow once too. The usually busy, loud home was too quiet. Seeing George’s sad, lost expression was too much and he’d left early to hide under the duvet in his and Hermione’s temporary flat in muggle London. They had to find somewhere to live. They had no family and they couldn’t bear to be anywhere else with memories. His tears escaped down his face. He took a sip of his tea with a trembling mouth, its warmth filling the hole sadness had left.  
“How do you stay so happy?” Draco asked softly.  
“I had to deal with the pain and the memories when I saw a mind healer. I must have broken down every day for a month. It still hurts like hell but I don’t think about it as much.”  
“do you-” Draco began. He bit his lip and took a sip from his tea. Harry put a hand on his arm comfortingly. “Do you have nightmares?” He said quickly, the words blending together.   
“Maybe once a month if something has triggered it or I’m stressed out but no, thankfully.”  
“I have them every night,” Draco whispered. Harry’s hand clenched around Draco’s arm reflexively.   
“since it happened?”  
“Since sixth year. It got worse last year though.”  
“I’m sorry.”  
“Blaise thinks you help since I’ve had a few nights without them since doing the project with you. I bet you love that.”  
“I’m just glad you have a night without nightmares. I don’t care what caused it.”   
“I just want them to stop for good.” Draco’s voice was so small it broke Harry’s heart.  
“I’ll give you the name of the mind healer I saw. I still see him every month or so.” Draco shook his head vigorously. “Please? Just go once and if you hate it, stop. They are completely confidential and no-one found out that I go. I know it’s hard and you don’t want to accept help or talk about it but this-” Harry gestured to Draco’s tear stained face, “is worse than getting help.” Draco nodded slowly.  
“I’ll think about it.” Harry sighed with relief. That was a start.  
“Thank you.”  
They settled into silence and finished their tea. Harry got up to make them another and Draco walked on wobbly legs to the sofa.   
“Anything you want to talk about?” Draco shook his head and reached out to take his cup from Harry.  
“Not right now. I just want to sleep.” The Slytherin did look exhausted.  
“Would you like to sleep here or go to your dorm?”  
“Here.”  
“Would you like me to stay?” Draco sniffed and nodded.   
When they were both ready to settle down Harry transfigured the sofa into a bed. He’d learnt how to do that very quickly when the flat he’d stayed in only came with one bed.   
“I don’t know how to make it into two. I don’t mind sleeping on the floor though.”  
“Sleep with me?” Draco asked, quietly. Harry’s stomach flipped and his face heated up. “Not like that,” Draco said with a sigh but he was smiling weakly. His mouth dry, Harry swallowed and nodded. They awkwardly undressed. Harry slipped into the bed in his t-shirt and boxers. He was glad he’s changed out of his robes after class ended so he didn’t have to sleep topless. It was a little chilly and he cast a warming charm on the sheets. Draco slipped in next to him, Harry blushing to the roots of his hair at his bare chest, and flicked his wand at the fire and candles to turn them off. Darkness covered them. Harry wiggled around to get comfortable and was just falling asleep when Draco moved closer to him. He hesitantly slipped his arm around Harry and Harry gently pulled him closer to his chest, reassuring him he was welcome. Draco pressed his face into Harry’s chest and Harry rested his cheek on the Slytherin’s blond hair. Harry knew Draco needed comfort and Harry himself had been desperate for any comforting contact. He’d cuddled with Hermione occasionally but it was usually him comforting her. He hadn’t been allowed to comfort Ginny. His arms tightened around Draco and he rubbed his bare, bony back gently. He wished he could protect him from all the shit that had been thrown at him. He couldn’t, of course, but he resolved to help him all he could from now on.  
Xx  
Draco awoke in an unfamiliar bed with a pounding headache. He shifted his position, causing the arm wrapped around his waist to tighten. The previous day flooded back to him and he groaned inwardly. Harry had found him in the middle of a meltdown. Harry had seen him cry. Harry had seen him, the Heir to the Malfoy family, with tears and snot all down his face. Harry was now curled up in bed with him. Draco supressed a groan. The room didn’t have windows and was too dark to see his watch so he cast a tempus charm. He was surprised to see it was 8 o’clock. Draco sighed and shifted again. Harry grumbled in his sleep and tensed his arm, locking him in place. Draco huffed. Of course Harry was clingy. He chose to ignore the fact he’d started it. He was very surprised Harry had let him and was still holding onto him.   
Draco gave up trying to wriggle away and turned over instead. His stomach did a strange flip when he actually saw Harry, his brain finally acknowledging that it was actually real and not an elaborate dream. He huffed into the Gryffindor’s chest. He was supposed to be forcing away his unfortunately growing crush on Harry, not encouraging it. But he was sad and his head hurt so it was okay this morning. He was angry with himself for even thinking about Harry that way but he was just too perfect. He was kind and understanding, funny and hard working. Draco glanced up at his relaxed face. Not to mention handsome. Draco closed his eyes and relaxed into the warmth of Harry. He wasn’t looking forward to going back to reality so he was definitely going to enjoy this as much as possible.   
Draco woke up an hour later to an empty bed. He grumbled and wrapped himself up in the duvet, feeling chilly without another body beside him. He looked around the room. Harry wasn’t around and his clothes were gone. Some of the candles in the room had been lit, and the fire was slowly growing. Draco shuffled over to the fireplace, still wrapped in the duvet. He picked up his watch from the neatly folded pile of clothes on the floor. It was ten past nine. Draco sighed. He should be in Arithmancy.   
Draco closed his eyes tiredly. His head was still pounding and his stomach muscles twinged when he moved. yesterday had been a painful whirlwind. He’d been struggling the moment he’ apparated outside the manor. The manor had been thoroughly cleaned but he could still see the mess and blood in his mind. The thought that his childhood home had been ruined in the worst possible way was enough to bring tears to his eyes. His stomach clenched with fear around every corner, he was half expecting the Dark Lord or Nagini to be around them. He worked to steady his breathing and just focused on his mother. She was in her rooms, the healers forcing her to stay in bed. She looked weak and pale, seeming to have aged ten years since he last saw her. She gave him a weak smile.  
“I’m fine, Draco, darling.” He reached across the bed to hug her.   
“What have the healers said?” she smiled tiredly.  
“I have a virus that has caused pneumonia. Unfortunately, it’s quite resilient to potions and spells. I’m getting better, though.” Draco nodded.  
“Can I get you anything?” She shook her head.  
“Nonsense, Draco. We have house elves for that.”   
Draco had spent the afternoon with her, catching up and reading to her when she got too tired to sit up. He left her room to let her sleep and went straight to his room. He hadn’t been there since he’d popped in just to collect his Hogwarts things after spending the summer at their holiday house. Before that, he’d only been there because he’d had to stay in England while the trials were taking place. He tried to settle back into the familiar and previously comforting room but it was hard. He quickly realised he didn’t know the name of the current house elf. The old ones had either been killed, had escaped, or been so mentally disturbed they could never work again. The anxiety nausea in his stomach meant he couldn’t eat anyway. He curled up under his soft bed and eventually fell into a fitful, nightmare filled sleep.   
The next two days passed similarly. He kept a brave face for his mother but fell apart in his room. The worst moment was when he’d braved going into the great hall for supper. He’d taken one look at the long table and ended up on the floor, his body shaking violently and his vision blurred. He’d been rooted to the spot, crying into his hands as flashbacks took over his mind. He eventually calmed down enough to shuffle himself out of the room on his bottom. It took a further half an hour before he could stand and go back to his room.  
Draco was suddenly dragged out of his thoughts by the door to the room opening. Harry smiled worriedly at him.   
“I brought breakfast and got us excused from lessons today,” he explained. “I also got a headache reliever from Madame Pomfrey. I’ll make you some tea.” Harry put the tray of food down in front of Draco and handed him the vial of potion.   
“how did you know I needed this?” He asked, frowning. Harry smiled at him.  
“I always got a terrible headache after crying too much.” Draco watched Harry go to the kitchenette and start making tea. He eyed up the food in front of him. Moments later, Harry was sat beside him on the floor, passing him a cup. He didn’t know how Harry knew he liked strong but sweet tea with a lot of milk but he made it perfectly. He took a sip and sighed when the tea warmed his body and relaxed him.   
“How did you get us off lessons?” Draco asked, fear creeping into his stomach.  
“I told Blaise to tell Professor McGonagall you were ill and I had the afternoon off anyway because I have a mind healer appointment so I just said I needed the morning off to prepare. Then I asked Madame Pomfrey for a headache reliver for later because I get headaches after mind healer appointments. It’s okay, no one knows but Blaise and I.”  
“Thank you for doing all that for me. You need this, though,” he tried to give the potion back. Harry pushed his hand away.  
“I can get one from the mind healer if I need it.” He shrugged one shoulder and pushed the breakfast tray closer to Draco. “You need to eat before you take the potion.” Draco nodded and picked up a bowl of rice pudding. He was happy to see Harry had stayed away from dry or complicated food. Harry pushed a jar of raspberry jam towards him. Draco noticed he waited until he was sure he was going to eat before digging into his own breakfast. Draco smiled into his teacup. He was torn between resenting Harry seeing him cry and loving that he was being looked after because of it.   
Draco swallowed the headache reliver and grimaced at the taste. He sighed happily when his headache faded away. Draco caught Harry smiling at him.   
“thank you for looking after me. I’m sure you’re loving it.” Harry smiled and shook his head.  
“I hate looking after people sometimes. I always had to be the strong one, the saviour. All I wanted was someone to look after me.” Draco’s face fell. “I don’t mind looking after you though,” Harry added hurriedly but Draco could tell he meant it.   
“why me?” Harry shrugged a shoulder.  
“I don’t know. I like making sure you’re happy.” Draco’s stomach fluttered and he felt his face warm up.   
“Do you need anything?” Harry asked when they’d finished eating. “tea? A nap? A cuddle?” Draco blushed to the roots of his hair and nodded. Harry shuffled over and Draco lifted the duvet so he could cuddle in.   
After Harry’s back was beginning to get sore, he sat up straight and tugged the duvet from Draco, who glared at him. He sat cross legged and with less grace than he would have liked, pulled the frowning blond into his lap. Whilst he was taller, Draco’s height was mostly legs and Harry’s torso was longer so Draco could comfortably have his head under Harry’s chin. Harry hoped Draco wouldn’t think he was treating him like a child but apart from some shifting to get comfortable he didn’t move. A few minutes later soft snuffling alerted Harry to the fact that Draco had fallen asleep on him. Harry accioed a book from the bookcase and settled down to read, one arm secured around the Slytherin.   
Harry felt Draco shift in his arms but continued reading, absorbed in the book. He hadn’t expected to enjoy it so much since it was about his most hated subject – potions. Harry had rolled his eyes when he found out that the contents of the bookcase was mostly about potions and history. Draco had definitely created this room. The small book was about the history of the preparation of potion ingredients. It was heavily autobiographical and the writer, a potions master who had changed a lot of the ways ingredients were prepared nowadays, had a nice writing style. It included very interesting anecdotes about his travels and family. Harry was so absorbed that he jumped when Draco spoke.   
“Why did you keep my watch for so long?” Harry huffed. He’d really thought Draco would have accepted his answer and moved on by now.   
“I told you. I forgot I had it and couldn’t find the right time to give it back.” Harry kept his eyes on the book.  
“I don’t believe you.” Harry sighed.  
“Why?”   
“Because I can feel your heartbeat.” Harry groaned inwardly. Draco’s hand had been settled over his heart since he’d sat down and was still there to feel the way Harry’s heart had jumped at the question. Harry used his free hand to pull the book from where it was enchanted to float in front of his face and set it down beside him. Draco uncurled himself, leaning back and supporting his body with his hands, to look at Harry smugly. Harry rubbed a hand over his face.   
“You’re going to think I’m insane.”  
“I already do.” Harry glared at him. Draco’s mouth quirked up in a smile. Harry sighed.  
“I liked that it smelled like you and I didn’t want to give it back immediately.”   
“is that it?” Draco asked, on eyebrow raised. Harry frowned.   
“uh, yes?” Draco snorted.  
“Why are you such a drama queen?”  
“you are calling me a drama queen?” Harry said incredulously. “and why don’t you think it’s weird?”  
“Smell is the sense most strongly linked to memory. You probably wanted to remember we weren’t fighting,” Draco explained with a shrug, as if it was the simplest, most normal thing in the world. Harry felt relived with this explanation.   
“That, or you’re still completely obsessed with me,” Draco teased and Harry shoved him off his lap. The Slytherin yelped and glared at him. Harry laughed at the crumpled man, thinking that he’d ever seen Draco ever look this graceless. Even in the midst of the war he was pristine and elegant. Minus the bathroom debacle, Harry didn’t think he’d ever seen him with a hair out of place. Affection for the blond, with his hair tangled and the few clothes he was wearing rumpled, bubbled up inside of him. Draco picked himself up, huffed, and smoothed himself out.   
“It’s nearly lunch time. Would you like me to get us some food from the kitchens?” Harry offered. Draco shook his head.  
“I want to go with you. But first we need to go to my dormitory. I’m not spending the day in dirty clothes.” Harry rolled his eyes. They both got dressed, Draco more reluctantly, and got ready to leave. Harry was thankful for Draco’s sake that it was still class time. He was also a bit selfishly pleased no one could steal Draco away from him just yet.   
Harry waited in the Slytherin common room, his mind taking him back to second year when he and Ron first went in. He snooped around the place a bit, since Draco was taking forever, looking in bookcases and staring into the dark lake outside. He supposed the rippling of the water and the gentle bubbling was calming but he definitely preferred being in the tower. Harry jumped a mile when Draco spoke from behind him.  
“I left a note for Blaise saying I’m okay.”   
“You took your time,” Harry replied to Draco’s reflection in the glass. He could see why, though. Draco was his usual perfect self. Harry looked to the stretched jumper and wrinkled jeans in his own reflection. He shrugged a shoulder. At least in his clothes he could sit down without worrying about them getting messed up. He turned to the Slytherin. “let’s go, then.”  
Xx  
Draco smiled at his reflection. He'd spent at least ten minutes preening in the mirror. He'd been more thrilled than he dared to admit when Harry had let him cuddle with him. He'd been overjoyed when Harry told him the real reason he'd kept the watch. The last bit of his resolve to stop his crush on Harry had gone. Instead, he was going to make it his mission to woo him. He checked his hair one more time and wrote a note for Blaise. He was still feeling a bit shaken up and upset from his visit to the manor but it had helped to let everything out.  
To Draco’s disappointment, Harry didn’t react to Draco's clothes, barely looking up when he walked in the room, but then Draco was starting out gently. He wore one of his best shirts and some well-fitting trousers. He didn’t have many outfits at Hogwarts, only his uniform, some outfits to wear on weekends and a formal outfit or two. He had a whole wardrobe of ammunition at the manor, but the thought of going back made his stomach turn. He’s write an owl to his mother asking her to send him some things.   
Draco led Harry from the common room. Draco suddenly wasn’t sure what to say to him.   
"I've never been to the kitchens," he told Harry, when the silence became uncomfortable.   
"No one is supposed to know where they are." Draco snorted. Of course, Harry did. “Before you say anything, it has nothing to do with me. It’s a Gryffindor tradition.”  
“If you say so.”   
“Here we go,” Harry said when they got to a portrait with a fruit bowl. Draco expected Harry to say the password but instead he reached forward and touched the painting of a pear with his finger. The pear made a strange giggle and turned into a doorknob before their eyes. Harry smiled at Draco’s bewildered expression and opened the door and gestured him in.   
“Mister Potter, Mister Malfoy,” a house-elf greeted them. “What would sirs like?”  
“Could we have some sandwiches, please?” Draco was surprised at his politeness towards the elf. Everyone else he knew just barked orders at them. The house-elves bustled about and very soon a tray with rolls, ham, cheese and other fillings was ready.   
Harry and Draco settled down on the floor with their food for the second picnic of the day. Draco picked at his food, his stomach still clenched from his weekend.  
“You okay?” Harry asked softly. Draco glanced up to meet Harry’s concerned expression. Suddenly all of Draco’s plotting went out of his mind and he was sad again. He nodded.   
“I will be.” Harry smiled weakly.  
“I’ll always be here for you.” Draco looked down at his hands and nodded. If Harry had said that six weeks ago, Draco would have punched him. He was quickly beginning to realise that Harry was eager to help people due to his massive heart rather than because he had a saviour complex. Draco, frustrated, pulled at the hair on the back of his neck. He was falling in love with Harry a little more every day. To make matters worse, Harry reached over to hold Draco’s hand.   
“Thank you.”  
“Anytime, you’re my friend.” Draco smiled but he was thinking that getting Harry to think of him as more than a friend was overambitious. Harry probably wasn’t even attracted to men. Draco groaned inwardly. This was a stupid idea.   
Xx

Harry gave Draco a brief hug goodbye and left the room of requirement. He sighed and pulled his hands through his hair. It’d helped him feel better to focus on Draco instead of himself but he was struggling. He slowly walked down to the apparation point, letting the strong, cool wind calm him down. He pushed his worries about Draco to the back of his mind. He’d made a promise to his mind healer that the hour session they had together was his time. No worrying or thinking about anyone else’s problems. Harry apparated to the private waiting room at St Mungo’s. He sat down quickly, letting the nausea that came from magical transport fade away. He cast a cooling charm around him. Hospitals were always stiflingly hot. He tapped his foot, pre-appointment nerves setting in. He was glad he was enough of a celebrity to get to use private waiting rooms instead of the crowded, noisy public ones. It was the only good that came out of it.   
“Mister Potter?” Harry stood up at the familiar voice of his mind healer. “Good to see you today.” Harry followed them to the appointment room and settled into the comfortable chair. He kicked off his shoes and sat cross legged.   
“What’s been happening lately, then?” they asked. Harry told them all about his classes and how he’d been feeling about being close to the end of school, and finally about Draco.   
“Do you think it’s a good idea to be that close to mister Malfoy?” they asked him. Harry sighed inwardly. He hated it when they asked questions like that and wished they’d just tell him that it wasn’t a good idea.   
“Because he was a death eater?” Harry asked, knowing full well it had nothing to do with that.   
“No, Harry. From what I’ve heard from you over the past six months, you tend to get attached to people very quickly. What makes Mister Malfoy different from Miss Weasley, for example?” Harry shrugged.   
“I don’t know. We aren’t obliged to be friends.”  
“Didn’t your friendship start when you were forced to work together?”   
“Yes. But we like each other outside of that.” They wrote something down in their notebook.  
“And tell me about your mental connection with him.” Harry told them about how he felt Draco leave.  
“I highly recommend you try to dissolve that contact, Harry.” Harry’s eyes widened and his stomach sank. “Harry, you need to learn to live on your own two feet. You can’t always have someone holding your hand and making decisions for you. I know it’s hard. We’ve discussed the possibility that you have dependent personality disorder before. I think you’re looking for someone to replace Miss Weasley.” Harry sighed.  
“I hope I like him for more reasons than that.”  
“I hope so too. For now, though, I think you need to take a step back. If you lose contact with him it could undo all our good work. Think about how you felt when he left for a few days. Draco is very quickly becoming your Favourite Person so you need to be careful. Having a physical, tangible contact is much more risky than just a mental connection. Also, the stress of Draco leaving could be a trigger for other negative feelings.” Harry’s shoulders slumped but he knew his mind healer was right. He hadn’t realised how important Draco’s approval and company was to him.  
“Can I still talk to him?” His mind healer smiled softly at him.  
“Of course, Harry. Make sure you have time for your other friends too, though.”  
“I will.”  
“have you got any ideas of what you’d like to do after Hogwarts?” Harry was glad to change the subject but frustrated with that particular question. Almost every teacher had been asking the students that for the past few weeks.  
“As you know, everyone wants me to become an auror.” He’d been focused on becoming an auror for years but after the war the thought of running around after dangerous wizards had lost all appeal.  
“How do you see yourself in the future?” Harry’s stomach twisted. His future plans had been ruined by his break up with Ginny.  
“I don’t know. I used to see myself with Ginny and children but I don’t see that anymore.”  
“You’re allowed to not know, Harry.” Harry sighed.  
“Why does everyone keep asking me?”   
“They just want to help you get where you want to be.” Harry made a face.   
“I wish everyone would leave me alone.”  
“People care about you, Harry.” Harry hummed. If they cared they’d have listened to him when he said he wasn’t sure about auror training. “Shall we leave it here today?” Harry nodded.  
“I don’t think there’s anything else.”  
“So, what are you going to think about over the next few weeks?”  
“Keep practicing my coping techniques and try not to rely on Draco too much.” The mind healer nodded.   
“Good. Make an appointment if you begin to feel down again and I hope school goes okay.” Harry thanked the healer and left the hospital. He felt calmer after his appointment and comforted that his healer thought he was capable of getting through the next few weeks.


	14. Chapter 14

“How was it?” Draco asked as soon as Harry walked into the room of requirement. Harry had chosen to go to the quiet, safe space that he and Draco had made instead of his common room. Harry loved his friends, of course, but they were always so loud, pulling his attention in a hundred different directions. Draco was happy to sit in silence. Harry just hummed in response and flopped down on the sofa. Maybe it wasn't a good idea to come here after what his mind healer had said. He needed to stop thinking of ways Draco was better than or could replace other people.   
"Tea?" Draco offered. Harry nodded.  
"Please." Harry watched Draco stand uncomfortably near the Muggle kettle that was charmed to work with magic instead of electricity. "Put in some water from the tap and flick the switch," Harry told him. Draco gave him a grateful smile. "You only need one teabag per mug."   
"My family only had loose leaf in a teapot," Draco told him to explain his cluelessness. "This tea tastes okay though," he mused. Eventually a mug was set down beside Harry.   
"Do you want to talk about your appointment?" Draco offered, slightly stiffly as if he was debating whether it was the right thing to do. Harry shook his head.   
"Not yet. Though, sometime, since I need to talk to you about something." Draco nodded and settled against the cushions. Harry blew on his tea, trying to relax. He wished he could have normal relationships. His mind healer had told him it was because he didn't get the care and attention he needed from his aunt and uncle so he attached himself to anyone who was friendly to him. It explained a lot. His mind healer had reassured Harry that this didn't mean that his friendships weren't real. He just had to make sure he valued his friendships equally. Harry waved his wand to fish out the tea bag from his mug and took a sip.   
"I got an owl from my mother today. She's showing signs of improvement."  
"I'm glad."  
"Me too. I'd have felt terrible if I’d left and she'd got worse." Harry squeezed Draco’s shoulder.   
"It's okay that you left. I’m glad that you did and you're here and safe now." Draco hummed, placating Harry but not agreeing. Harry knew how guilty he felt. He'd been the same when he'd hidden from Grimmauld place and the Weasleys. He'd had to do what was best for him, though. Guilt was better than the pain.   
"Have you thought any more about going to a mind healer?" Harry asked. Draco shook his head.   
"I don't think I’ll be able to talk about how I feel with a stranger."  
"I didn't think I could either." Draco shook his head.  
"You're different."  
"How?" Draco huffed and stood up.   
"I don't know, just… different," Draco replied, throwing his hands in the air in annoyance. Harry huffed, Draco’s bad mood grating on him.   
"I’m just trying to help!" Draco turned and gave him a glare that was once very familiar. Harry's stomach twisted uncomfortably.   
"I didn't ask you for help!" Draco spat. "I didn't ask for you to barge in on me and start messing with my business!" Harry put his tea down and stood up shakily. He forced the tears that prickled behind his eyes back. Hurriedly, Harry picked up his stuff and left the room. He could have stayed and dealt with Draco any other day, but today he was emotionally tired and the Slytherin’s words stung. He felt like Draco was rejecting him.

xx

 

Draco stormed down to his dorms and fell onto his bed. He was angrier with himself than Harry. the thought of therapy just really, really didn't agree with him. he could barely admit his emotions to himself let alone anyone else. He felt horrible for snapping at Harry and miserable for pushing away one of the people that gave him the most support. He hadn't meant to say he didn't want Harry's help. The support and comfort he'd got over the last 24 hours had helped a lot. Draco huffed and buried his head in his pillow. He’d lost his home, he could have lost his mother and now he might have lost Harry. Draco gave up trying to stay calm and cried until he, drained and exhausted, fell asleep.  
Around an hour later, Draco awoke to the sounds of his housemates coming back after lessons.  
"Draco! You're back!" Draco pulled himself up into a sitting position and smiled weakly at Blaise. "How are you?" Draco rubbed the dried salt from his eyes.   
"Better." Draco had explained to Blaise in a note how he'd felt at the manor and how he'd needed some alone time to calm down. he'd omitted that he'd spent so much time with Harry. Blaise smiled at him.   
"I’m glad." Draco nodded.   
“Mother is getting better every day.” Blaise smiled, obviously happy for him. Draco was grateful to have him has a friend.  
“That’s good. Hopefully you can stay here now.” Draco nodded and smiled weakly.   
“Speaking of which, you probably have some work for me.” Blaise frowned.  
“Are you sure?”  
“Yes, I want to forget about it and get back to normal.” Draco knew that throwing himself into school work would definitely help take his mind off everything that was happening around him.   
“Well, here you go then!” Blaise pulled out a large stack of parchment from his bag and dropped it onto Draco’s bed. “go and wash your face and I’ll give you a hand.” Blaise smiled gently and unexpectedly pulled Draco into a quick hug before pushing him towards the bathroom.   
Xx  
Harry flopped down on the sofa in the common room next to Hermione and Ron.   
“What’s up?”   
“I was making good progress with Draco until my mind healer told me to stay away from him and then he stormed off,” Harry told them blandly. A million thoughts were buzzing through his head but he was trying to ignore them. He was mostly terrified he’s lost Draco. Again.   
“Why did your mind healer tell you to stay away?”   
“Apparently, I’m getting too attached to him.” Harry watched Ron and Hermione give each other a look. He pouted.   
“I didn’t realise until they said something!”  
“But you know now,” Hermione said gently, pupping a hand on his shoulder.  
“Anyway, we’re fighting so it doesn’t matter, does it?”  
“Of course, it does, Harry. Regardless, he’s still your friend and your care for him is still genuine.”  
“Merlin knows why,” Ron added helpfully.   
“You need to make up with him.”  
“But he yelled at me for helping him. Maybe I’m coming on too strong. Maybe he doesn’t even like me in the first place. Maybe I am interfering and he doesn’t want me around.” Harry put his head in his hands. His mind was racing. “Maybe it’s better if I just leave him alone.”  
“Harry, Draco doesn’t like anyone and he genuinely likes you.”  
“I hate to say it but yeah, it’s pretty obvious,” Ron added, smiling sheepishly.  
“He’s going through a rough time. It’s not your fault he’s snapping at you.”  
“Yeah, mate, no-one could be angry at the saviour of the wizarding world.” Harry snorted and shoved Ron.  
“What happened with him anyway? Is his mother okay?”  
“He freaked out when he went to the Manor. His mum has pneumonia but she’s recovering.”  
“I’m glad she’s okay.”  
“Where did you sleep last night?” Ron asked.   
“Room of requirement. Draco wanted me to stay with him. He was really upset.”  
“Why did he get upset with you if you did so much for him?”  
“I tried to convince him to see a mind healer.”   
“Leave it a couple of days and talk to him. Oh, and I have your work for the lessons you missed.”  
“Hermione! Can’t you see the poor man is upset?”  
“No, it’s okay, I need the distraction,” Harry told her, pulling the stack of parchment toward himself. Working through the missed lessons with the help of Hermione and Ron’s notes did help to take his mind off his problems and feel more normal. The other Gryffindors helped too at supper.   
“So, I heard you stayed the night with Draco, Harry,” dean teased.   
“Any bets on what they got up to?”  
“Nothing happened!” Harry protested, but blushed to the roots of his hair because cuddling a half-naked Draco was definitely something. Harry’s stomach squirmed at the reminder. Seven pairs of eyebrows were raised at him.   
“Where did you sleep?” Dean asked with a grin.  
“In a bed I transfigured from a sofa.”   
“With Draco?” Seamus asked. Harry sighed.  
“With Draco.” Whistles, cheers and puking noises filled their area of the table. Harry put his head in his hands.  
“How could you do that!” Ron asked disgustedly.   
“Have you seen Malfoy?” Lavender asked. “he’s gorgeous.” Ron groaned.   
“It’s true, even if I hate him from stealing Harry from me,” Ginny added, jokingly. Harry’s relationship with her had been fixed and was back to how it was before the war. Harry hadn’t realised how much he’d missed having her as a friend until they’d broken up. She’d been frosty with him for a few weeks after their messy breakup but they’d had a talk and now they were closer than ever. There was a lot of problems with their relationship, some to do with having known her since he was eleven, some to do with their personalities clashing and some to do with their wants for the future being different. Harry wanted to have children but Ginny would rather tour with a quidditch team. They were both happier as friends.  
“Are you sure nothing happened, Harry?” Dean asked.  
“Yes!” Harry partly lied.  
“What would you have done if he tried to do something?” Neville asked. Harry nearly choked on the pasta he’d just stuffed in his mouth.   
“I’m not into Draco!” Harry tried to retort with his mouth full. He glared at everyone’s sideways glances at each other.   
“Mhmm, okay, Harry,” Seamus said sarcastically.   
“Even your mind healer said so,” Dean teased. Harry glared at Ron, blushing even harder.   
“How could you!” Ron looked down at his food sheepishly. “Exactly how much do you talk about this?” The Gryffindors exchanged glances.   
“Sorry, Harry.”  
“Yeah, sorry.”  
“We’re just teasing.” Harry huffed.  
“You’re as bad as the bloody gossip section of the Daily Prophet was sometimes,” he told them, trying to glare but fading into a smile.   
“Nothing is as bad as that.”   
“Eyes glistening with the ghosts of his past,” Hermione remembered with a smile.  
The Gryffindors all snorted with laughter and conversation drifted to sharing funny memories of that time.   
Xx  
Draco watched Harry walk across the classroom. It was three days since they last spoke. Draco hadn’t tried to contact him; presuming Harry wouldn’t want to talk to him. Harry seemed fine. Right now, he was laughing with his friends and completely ignoring Draco. Draco, frustrated, pounded the unicorn horn in his pestle and mortar. He wasn’t sure if he was glad the potion he was making was already ingrained in his mind or annoyed he had time to think. He smashed the chunks of unicorn horn in anger at himself when he caught himself glancing over to Harry a little more often than usual. He’d always kept an eye on Harry for years but this was different. He watched through narrowed eyes him frown in concentration, the light reflecting from the red-ish potion on his skin. He saw Harry go to add powdered moonstone into his cauldron. Which would create fumes that could make a person catatonic. Draco’s stomach leapt and he watched Harry’s hand jump and move away. Thankfully Slughorn noticed his hesitation and gave him a hand. Draco looked back to his own potion and added the now powdered unicorn horn to his potion, which had been purple for a good few minutes without him realising. He was only running behind because he was working alone. Yeah. That was definitely it.   
Half an hour later, Draco was adding drops of previously made everlasting elixir to his finished draught of peace.   
“What’s up?” Blaise asked. “You normally love potions and you’ve been glaring all lesson.”  
“Just got a lot on my mind.”  
“That’s understandable. Anything I can help with?” Draco considered for a second.  
“You’re good with people. How do I apologise to Harry?” Blaise gave him a knowing look.  
“I thought it might be something to do with him.” Draco glared at him, but continued explaining.  
“I snapped at him and he won’t talk to me now.”  
“He’s probably dealing with his own issues. Even I noticed he’s been quiet lately.” Draco was surprised Blaise had been keeping tabs on Harry. “And don’t think I haven’t noticed the way you’ve been looking at him the past few days.” Draco blushed and ducked away from Blaise’s shove. It was true he used to stare at Harry throughout his time at Hogwarts but it was always with a glare or smirk. Now he looked at him with a softer expression.   
“What do I do?”   
“Talk to him.” Blaise was cut off from saying anything else by Slughorn bringing the class’s attention back to him.   
Later in the common room Theo, Pansy, Blaise and Draco were sat on the comfy chairs, their homework spread amongst them.  
“So, Draco has realised his crush on Harry.” Blaise announced suddenly.   
“Merlin! Blaise!” Blaise didn’t even look apologetic.   
“Finally,” Theo sighed. Draco glared at them all.   
“We’ve known for years, babe. We just wanted you to realise it.” Draco huffed. He was so frustrated with everyone thinking he had a crush on Harry but he was even more frustrated that it was true.   
“So, we must help Draco make up with Harry,” Blaise explained.   
“Do we want to do that?” Pansy asked. The others exchanged frowns.  
“We want Draco to be happy,” Blaise reasoned.  
“Stop talking about me like I’m not here,” Draco grumbled. His friends ignored him.   
“And Harry makes Draco happy,” Theo said. “For some reason.”  
“Okay, we’ll help,” Pansy decided, turning to smile at Draco.  
“I didn’t even ask for your help!” Draco crossed his arms across his chest.  
“You need it though.” Draco’s mouth dropped open in outrage at Pansy, who smirked.  
“I do not!” he protested.  
“How many times have you fallen out with him exactly?” Draco fixed a glare at her but admitted defeat.  
“Fine,” he huffed.   
“Any ideas?” Blaise asked them.  
“Wear your best dress trousers for a start,” Pansy suggested, eyeing up his lower half.  
“We’ll go to the Gryffindor table for supper,” Theo added.  
“No!” Draco protested immediately.  
“Yes!”  
“It’ll just be uncomfortable for everyone.” Draco panicked.  
“No, it won’t. Draco, if you want him to talk to you, you have to put the effort in.”  
“I guess. Thanks, I think,” Draco grumbled. His friends were insufferable at times but at least he might end up making progress with Harry.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is short. Wanted to update but had very little productivity lately

Harry sat on his broom watching his friends pass the quaffle to each other. They’d naturally split into their house teams, choosing to neglect the bludgers for their game due to the lack of people. They’d originally also not used the snitch but Harry had missed being a seeker so much they eventually gave into him and released it. Draco had begrudgingly agreed to be his competition. It has taken some pleading and puppy eyes to encourage him to but he had given in. He knew Draco didn’t enjoy quidditch but he seemed to be happy enough playing with his friends. He’d been surprised even Pansy and Hermione had joined in even though both girls didn’t have much interest in the sport. They seemed to be trying very hard to make friends with the Slytherins and the fact that Harry knew it was for his benefit made his heart swell with pride and happiness. He was regretting that it didn’t happen years earlier. The war had prevented that but also their toxic stereotypes and division between the houses.   
Harry watched Blaise intercept Ron’s pass to Hermione and noticed a gold streak behind Hermione’s head. He maneuvered his (borrowed) broom towards it. Draco flew up beside them and they began their familiar chase. Harry flew upwards, the snitch a few metres ahead of him. A quick sideway glance told him Draco was to his left, slightly behind him. The snitch veered to the left and Harry followed. Draco’s reflexes were a little slower so Harry ended up almost bumping into him.   
Careful, Potter. Draco’s voice came through the link.   
If you were a better flyer you wouldn’t be in the way, Harry teased.   
Saint Potter talks dirty, who knew? Draco teased back. Harry flew directly into Draco.   
Hey! Draco clutched onto his broom, in danger of overbalancing. I'll get you for that!  
I'd like to see you try! Harry teased Draco, easily swooping away from him. They'd lost sight of the snitch so Harry flew upwards to a good vantage point. Dean wasn’t available so there were four people on each team. Harry found it hard to tell who was who from his height without their bright uniforms.   
Harry scanned the pitch. The weak wintery sun was just enough to reflect off the snitch so he watched out for that. He also kept an eye on Draco in case he saw something. Draco’s technique used to be following Harry when he saw the snitch but Harry saw he was watching the pitch. He was looking everywhere but at Harry. Harry spotted the snitch at the same moment as Draco did.  
They both raced across the pitch, following the sharp twists and turns of the snitch. Harry was neck and neck with Draco, the Slytherin's fingers almost touching the snitch. They were so close to the ground their knees brushed the unmown grass. Harry took a chance and scrambled up so he crouched on his broom. He leapt onto Draco, grabbing him by the shoulders just as his fingers were about to close over the snitch. They both fell to the grass, rolling several times before they stopped. Harry went from looking up to the sky, regretting his decision to being pinned by Draco. Harry's breath hitched. Draco was straddling his hips, holding down his arms.  
“Playing dirty too are we, Potter?” Draco almost whispered. His voice was soft and slow and it sent a shiver all over Harry's body. Harry watched Draco's face move closer and closer to him, grey eyes staring at him intensely. Harry's body tensed up. Draco released one of his arms and before Harry knew what was happening Draco was presenting the snitch in front of his nose. Harry shoved Draco off him.  
“That wasn't fair!” He protested.  
“Life isn't fair,” Draco teased, smirking. While Harry got to his feet, the Slytherins landed and celebrated with Draco.  
“What happened, Harry?” Ron asked.  
“I don't really know.” Harry told him, his nose scrunched in confusion and annoyance.  
"It looked like you were having a moment," Seamus told him, smirking.  
"He was trying to distract me!" Harry exclaimed, frustrated.  
"And why was it distracting?" Seamus teased. Harry wanted to hit him.  
"Because I didn't know what was happening!"   
“But did you like it?” Harry didn’t want to think about how he felt in that moment.  
“Piss off,” Harry told him, good naturedly. Seamus grinned at him.   
“You didn’t help. Jumping on him like that,” Hermione told him scornfully.  
“I had to try something to win.”   
XX  
Draco handed Harry his broom. He'd finished celebrating his win with his friends and they were putting their quidditch things away. Harry was putting everything in its proper place, since he knew where it all went. Draco watched him stretch up to put the last broom on its brackets in the wall. When harry turned to leave, Draco didn't move from where he was stood, leaning in the doorway.  
“Draco?” Harry questioned impatiently, tapping his foot.  
“Sorry you lost,” he said with a smirk. Harry rolled his eyes.   
“No, you're not.”   
“No, I'm not,” Draco agreed.   
“If you didn't play dirty I would have,” Harry grumbled.  
“You started it.” Draco smirked at the familiar words.  
“It was an accident! And you took it too far by sitting on me!” Harry tried to protest.  
“You jumped on me!” Harry looked a little sheepish. He suddenly started laughing. Draco frowned.   
“What?”  
“We always get over competitive with each other.”   
“Speak for yourself,” Draco grumbled but he smiled at Harry. Harry had not only been his enemy for years but his greatest competition. Instead of fighting Harry now, he was fighting for his affection.


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if this is a little rusty, wanted to get it out before Christmas! Happy Christmas if you celebrate it, Happy Holidays if not. Hope you enjoy!

Harry went into the boy’s dorms and went to throw his bag down by his bed but froze with it still hanging on his fingers when he noticed something on his bed. He walked closer to the bed and saw it was something woollen with a note on top. He sat down next to it and opened the folded parchment.   
I won’t get upset if you keep this.  
-Draco   
Harry picked up the woollen thing. It was a deep green jumper with a thick silver stripe across the chest. Harry’s stomach clenched. The Slytherin quidditch jumper. Instead of being the traditional wool, it was much softer. Smiling so much his cheeks hurt, he brought the fabric to his face. Draco had obviously been wearing it a lot before giving it to him.   
“What’ve you got there, Harry?” Harry jumped out of his skin and blushed to the roots of his hair.   
“Nothing…” he looked sheepishly at Seamus.   
“Your face says otherwise, Harry.” Harry tried to school his face into something neutral.   
“It’s nothing, Draco is just taking the piss.”  
“How come?”  
“I found his watch and kept forgetting to give it back.” Seamus frowned. “Inside joke,” he added with a smile.   
“You have inside jokes with a Slytherin?” He grinned at Harry, but his smile turned soft. “You really like him, don’t you?” Harry shrugged a shoulder.   
“He’s a nice person. I enjoy his company.”   
“Blaise is a nice bloke now, too. He used to be so stuck up. They’ve all changed.”  
“We all have.”  
“Are you going to keep it?” Seamus asked, gesturing to the jumper.  
“For a bit, yeah.”  
“Just don't wear it. It'll cause an uproar.”  
“People are used to us spending time with the Slytherins, aren't they?”   
“Yes, but you wearing that jumper would scream 'I’m dating Draco Malfoy’.”  
“But I'm not.”   
“Good.” Harry new Seamus wasn't homophobic in the slightest and had fooled around with Dean at some point.  
“But the teasing?”  
“I want you to be happy, Harry. People spreading rumours about you dating an ex Death Eater will force you into the spotlight. You'd hate that.”  
“Fair point.”  
“If you ever do date him though, we'll be here for you.” Harry snorted.  
“Like that would happen.” Seamus raised an eyebrow.   
“You never know.”  
Dean stumbled into the room and threw himself onto his bed.   
“I'm so tired,” he mumbled into the pillow.   
“Fancy a trip to Hogsmeade instead of homework?” Dean immediately sat up.  
“Yes!” He pounced on the idea.   
“Harry?”   
“Sure.” Harry could use a laugh.   
Half an hour later a group of Gryffindors were ready to leave to Hogsmeade. A lot of their friends had also jumped on the chance for an afternoon out. Harry walked with Seamus and Dean, chatting about their workload, quidditch, Muggle sport and anything else that came to mind. Harry realised he hadn't spoken to them properly in an age. As they walked down the cobbled street, Harry saw Draco walk towards them.   
“Malfoy!” Seamus greeted him before Harry got the chance. “Feel like joining us?”   
“We're going to the three broomsticks,” Harry clarified.   
“Uh, sure,” Draco replied hesitantly. Harry was as surprised as Draco that Seamus had asked him. He hoped the cheeky Gryffindor wasn't plotting anything. Draco turned and fell into step with Harry.   
“Where did you come from?” Harry asked him.  
“Just looking for a gift for mother,” Draco told him.   
“How is she?” Hermione asked from behind them.   
“She's much better, thank you, Granger.”   
“I'm glad to hear that.” Draco gave her a small, grateful, smile. Harry put a hand on his arm affectionately.   
The Three Broomsticks was warm and inviting, but, thankfully, mostly empty. The waitress smiled at them when they entered. A swish of her wand brought extra chairs over to a large table so they could all sit down. Draco settled himself next to Harry.   
“What did you get your mum?”   
“Not much, just a silk scarf and some truffles,” he told him.  
“Nice.” The waitress approached them.  
“What would you like?” She asked them.   
“Butterbeer, please,” Harry told the waitress. Ron, Seamus, and Dean all frowned at him.  
“You come to a pub and get a butterbeer?” Dean asked. Harry shrugged.  
“Never developed a taste for alcohol.” Truthfully, alcohol was used to toast the deaths of people close to him and he could never shake that association.  
“I’m just having butterbeer too,” Draco told them.  
“Why!”  
“It's a weekday. And it’s half past five.” Harry suspected there was more to it than that, but it was obvious Draco didn’t want to talk about it right then.  
Five minutes later, two butterbeers, two meads and three firewhiskeys were placed in front of them. Even Hermione was drinking. When Harry gave her a questioning look she shrugged one shoulder.   
“I’m as stressed as you are.”   
“But you’re ahead!” Harry whined. Harry wasn’t exactly behind but he had to work very hard to stay afloat. “I don’t know how anyone can remember all those plant names.”  
“They’re easy, Harry. It’s all Latin,” Neville chipped in.   
“But I don’t know Latin!” Harry protested. Draco snorted.   
“Rusticus,” Draco said in a way that told Harry it was an insult, even if he had no idea what Draco said. He hit him on the shoulder for good measure.   
“I came here to get away from homework!” Dean grumbled.  
“Would you rather talk about quidditch?” Draco asked.  
“Any day.”  
“Of course,” Draco smirked.  
“What does that mean?” Dean asked, angry.  
“You’re common.”  
“Well, what do you Slytherins talk about around supper then?”   
“Harry,” Ron and Seamus said in unison.   
“Aguamenti.” Draco shot a stream of water at them both. They both stood up drawing their wands.   
“Sit down, Ronald.” Hermione pulled Ron’s sleeve. Harry cast the hot air charm on them both, drying them instantly.   
“Behave,” Harry told Draco, lightly. Draco pulled an innocent expression that melted into a smirk almost immediately. He busied himself with his butterbeer.   
Xx  
Draco sipped his butterbeer. He’d managed to upset half of the Gryffindors and he’d been there five minutes. He was frustrated with himself more than anything. Sometimes he just could not keep his mouth shut. He’d much rather come off as an asshole than weak. He looked towards Harry. Harry glanced at him and suddenly laughed. Draco frowned at him.   
“You- you have a foam moustache,” he told him around laughter. Draco touched his upper lip. “no.” Harry raised a hand towards him. “Here,” Harry said and gently wiped Draco’s mouth with his thumb. Draco forgot how to breathe. He felt his face heat up. Even more frustrated with himself he pulled his face away. Draco stayed quiet for the rest of the time he was there. He thought about making his excuses and leaving early but he wanted to be in the Gryffindor’s good books. He was amazed and taken aback when Seamus invited him. Harry tried to engage him in conversation, but Draco really wasn’t feeling like talking. Draco was glad none of them got too drunk.   
They headed back at nine, unfortunately after supper. Of course, they all went to the kitchens to beg the house elves for leftovers. After they’d all eaten, Harry offered to walk Draco to his common room. Draco wanted to spend some time with Harry by himself, so he agreed.   
“Do you drink?” Harry asked conversationally. Draco groaned inwardly. He’d been waiting for that. He debated whether he told Harry the truth or not.  
“No,” he answered simply.   
“Have you ever?” Draco sighed. “Sorry.” Harry must have seen his expression.  
“No, it’s fine.” He took a steadying breath. “I used alcohol to forget about the war.” Suddenly Harry’s arms were around him. And by around them, it meant squeezing the life out of him. Draco hugged harry back and let his head rest on Harry’s. His infuriatingly messy hair was surprisingly soft. Draco let harry hold him for a good few minutes, until he was ready to let go.   
“I stopped as soon as I came here. I just stay away from alcohol just in case.”   
“I’m glad you’re better.” Harry wasn’t meeting his eye.   
“Thanks.”  
“I don’t drink because we used to toast people that had died. It just reminds me of mourning.” Draco just nodded. He was frustrated that he’d told Harry so quickly. He was angry that Harry would probably never want to be with him now he knows.  
“Sorry for being a disappointment,” Draco told the floor.   
“You aren’t,” Harry replied softly. “Everyone has a different way of dealing with things. You’ve been through so much, it’s okay if you can’t do it on your own.” Draco didn’t really believe it, but he nodded anyway. Harry gave him another, smaller, hug.   
They continued their walk in near silence. Harry was comfortable with it, but Draco’s mind was buzzing with regrets. It didn’t stop when he said goodnight to Harry and went into his common room. He sat with his friends, who were still up, and sighed deeply.  
“Where were you?”  
“Got dragged to the Three Broomsticks by the Gryffindors. I think I messed everything up with Harry. Again.”  
“What happened?” Pansy asked.   
“I told him about the drinking thing and now he probably won’t ever want to be with me.”  
“If he said anything I’ll kill him.” Theo told him darkly.   
“He just said something about everyone needing help. Just generic rubbish.”  
“Babe, that’s not Harry. He’s horribly nice.”  
“Pansy’s right. Harry doesn’t hate you. If anything, he probably likes you more.” Draco grumbled. He didn’t want to believe them, but he couldn’t help it. His group of friends were brutally honest and while a lot of people disliked them for it, Draco was grateful. By the time he fell asleep, Draco was much more optimistic.


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry it's a little short. More stuff is happening in a bit so those chapters will be longer! Hope you enjoyed.

Xx

Harry sat at his window looking out at the castle sprawling beneath him. The strengthening spring sun was streaming into the room, making the dark woods and reds of the room richer in colour. Their bedcurtains sparked when the sun hit the stars sewn into them with gold thread. The stone floor was cold on his back, in contrast to the heat from the log burner in the middle of the room. Harry breathed deeply, calming himself. With the confusion surrounding his social life and the looming exams, Harry needed time to relax and breathe. The seventh-year dorms were at the top of the Gryffindor tower and Harry could see for miles from his dorm. He liked to stare out at it and think.

Harry rested his forehead on the cool glass, Draco’s jumper in his hands. The extraordinarily soft fabric smelled strongly of Draco and he brought it to his face, inhaling. While he was embarrassed Draco had called him out on his strange attraction to his smell, he was happy with the jumper. He tried to ignore the attachment he had to Draco, but ever since his Mind Healer had brought it up it was on the forefront of his mind. It had done the opposite of what the Mind Healer had intended. He was a little reluctant to make another appointment after that. Harry groaned inwardly. Why did his head always have to be a mess? Perks of being emotionally abused for eleven years and forced to grow up too quickly. Harry laughed dryly to himself. At least he wasn’t the only messed up one now. The war had done a number on them all. He sadly thought of Draco, Ron, Hermione, Lavender, Teddy- the list went on.

Draco had been acting a little differently towards him ever since Harry found him crying. As had the other Slytherins, come to think of it. They were so much friendlier towards him. It was a little disconcerting. It was a strange thought that Draco was so opposed to being his friend yet now he was practically throwing himself at Harry. Harry definitely didn’t mind it. He did wonder why Draco was so forward with their relationship now. He guessed Draco was jumping at the chance of Harry redeeming him in society. He did hope that wasn’t the only reason but on the other hand, Draco was a handsome, aristocratic, rich pureblood. While Harry had money, he preferred to not use it for things like clothes. He certainly wasn’t aristocratic and his mum was muggleborn. It did make him feel better that it was often Draco that reached out to him. Maybe he wasn’t as obsessed as his Mind Healer thought.

He watched a flock of birds fly past his window and sighed. He was so tired of overthinking everything. An enchanted parchment bird fluttered towards him. He lazily plucked it from the air and opened it up. Hermione wanted him downstairs. He hefted himself up, pulling his clothes back into shape from where they had been rumpled from sitting. He reluctantly put Draco's jumper back under his pillow. He left the room and started on the nine flights of stairs down to the common room. He wished he could apparate up them sometimes, particularly at the end of a long day. He paused to look over the balcony and the scene made him smile. Ron was perched on the edge of a threadbare chair, frowning at his chessboard. Hermione was squashed behind him, arms around his waist. She asked him a question, pointing at the chess piece he just moved. Harry knew Hermione had picked up the rules of chess almost instantly, but she liked spending time with him and he liked teaching her. Hermione feigning ignorance for Ron’s benefit was very sweet in Harry's opinion. Ginny was sat across from Ron, looking thoroughly bored. A quidditch rule book was open on her knee and she kept glancing down at it longlingly. A couple of younger Gryffindors were on the other side of the room, playing a loud game of exploding snap.

Harry went down the spiral staircase. Hermione spotted him first.

“Harry!” she greeted him. “I thought you might like some company,” she told him, extracting herself from the chair. She hugged him hello. “And I think Ginny needs to escape,” she mock whispered in his ear. Harry laughed. He sat down on the arm of Ginny's chair.

“Your move,” he told her. She barely looked up.

“Take over for me?” She asked him. When he didn't immediately answer, she looked up at him pleadingly.

“I was actually hoping to talk to you about quidditch at some point.” The relief on Ginny’s face made him laugh.

“Oh, thank Merlin.” She pushed the chair further from the chess board, looking at it with disgust.

“I was hoping we might set up an unofficial team. No teams or matches, just playing quidditch.” She smiled up at him.

“That's a great idea, Harry.” Harry beamed.

“I’m glad you think so. I was hoping you’d help me.”

“Of course,” Ginny grinned. “I’d love to.”

“Great!” Harry knew Ginny would be on board.

“It’d really help with exam stress, actually,” Ron added. He was now listening to their conversation since he couldn’t play chess any more. Even Hermione nodded at that.

“I’m not into quidditch the same way as you are, but I enjoyed throwing the quaffle around with you.” Harry grinned excitedly.

“Let's set one up as soon as possible then!”

“Are we advertising just to Gryffindor or the whole school?” Ginny asked. Harry thought for a moment but the decision wasn’t hard.

“The whole school. If the group gets too big we can just have multiple games.”

“Okay,” she agreed. “I’ll make some adverts and send them to the common rooms. I’m so bored I’ll do anything for the distraction.” With that Ginny summoned some parchment and a quill and began to write. Harry moved to sit on the floor by Ron and Hermione’s chair.

“I’m glad you get on so well,” Hermione told Harry quietly.

“Me too,” he agreed. “I think I’ve always seen her as a cousin or something rather than a girlfriend. Of course, I definitely did in sixth year. But after that, we got too familiar with each other.”

“Can we stop talking about this?” Ron asked, pulling a face. “It’s always been weird thinking of you and Gin together.” Harry laughed.

“Sure.”

Ten minutes later, Ginny thrust a piece of parchment at him. Harry read over it quickly and handed it back.

“Perfect.” Ginny smiled. She cast a spell to copy the words onto blank parchment and another to fold them into paper birds. The three folded parchments flew out of the common room and the unfolded one was sent to the notice board.

“Now we wait.”


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait. My mental health has been bleugh and it really affects my writing. Don't worry though, I won't abandon this fic.

Xx

“Look at this,” Theo told Draco, standing in front of the Slytherin notice board. “looks like Harry’s starting up a quidditch ‘club’.” A piece of parchment with unfamiliar handwriting was pinned on it. The parchment bore the stamp of Gryffindor. It was inviting students to play Quidditch for fun and it didn’t take a genius to work out who was behind it.

“I bet they’re allowing the whole school for your benefit, Draco,” Pansy teased. Draco snorted but his stomach tickled with butterflies.

“Are you going?” Theo asked. “I might investigate it.”

“You know I don’t like Quidditch,” Draco huffed. Theo smirked.

“I know you don’t like giving up a chance to spend time with Harry.” Draco groaned.

“You could continue what happened last time you flew with him,” Pansy tempted. Draco knew he couldn’t win. He was going to go whether he liked it or not and that was that. People outside of Slytherin saw him as the unchallenged leader but he and his friends were, in fact, equals.

“Get some quidditch leggings, too,” Pansy advised. A slow smile spread over Draco's face. This could be more fun than he originally thought. Blaise soon joined them, textbooks in hand. They all left for their class.

Draco was surprised to see Ginny was in their class. She was sat in between Harry and Hermione, chatting to them animatedly. Harry greeted the Slytherins briefly before continuing his conversation. Draco frowned in annoyance at the lack of attention. He channelled his annoyance at Ginny. Their conversation didn’t stop when class started, and they were told off by the alchemy teacher.

“You came here to catch up on missed work, Miss Weasley. Don’t fall further behind.” Ginny’s face went as red as her hair and Draco smiled to himself. After a bit of theory, they were able to practice harnessing the elements in their magic. Draco had been taught this since he was young; first using earth to ground his magic and then using the other elements to strengthen it. They paired up and first worked on meditation to harness the elemental magic. Draco was very glad this year they only had to do this for the first five minutes of the practical class. Sitting around doing nothing for forty minutes in sixth year was mind numbing.

Draco chose to stand near Harry, who had infuriatingly paired up with Ginny. The Weasley girl was shooting blasts of air at Harry, attempting to knock him off his feet. Harry easily blocked her spells, though. Draco wanted to hex her into next week but was still wary of her bat bogey hexes, so he stayed away. Instead he made another attempt to drag Harry’s attention away from her.

“Quidditch club was a clever idea, Harry.” Harry smiled at him while defending himself easily.

“Thanks. Playing with you gave me the idea.” Draco tried not to blush. He knew Harry didn’t mean just him, but it still made him smile.

“I think Theo is going to make me come with him,” Draco told him.

“Not coming for me then?” Harry asked, mock pouting. Draco smirked.

“Maybe if you ask nicely.” Harry was suddenly flung backwards and landed on his back a few feet across the classroom.

“Sorry, Harry,” Ginny shouted at him, grinning. Draco flicked his wand at her and vines anchored her to the floor. She frowned at Draco and he shrugged.

“Just practising earth magic.”

  

Xx

"Mate?" Ron asked in the dark.

Harry hummed sleepily. "what?" it was midnight on a Friday and the other Gryffindor boys were asleep.

"Are you okay with me and Hermione? Now that you aren’t seeing anyone."

Harry frowned. "Of course. Why wouldn’t I be."

"I don’t know. You just seem... Sad. When you're around us."

"Oh. Sorry," Harry apologised. He didn’t want to make his friends feel bad for being together.

"It's okay." They lay in silence for several minutes.

"I guess it's to do with what my mind healer said," Harry eventually admitted. "You and 'Mione have each other. You're closer to each other than anyone else. I can’t have that without being obsessed."

Ron turned on the light, slipped from his bed and climbed onto Harry's. "Sorry, mate." he put a hand on Harry's shoulder. "Your mind healer might be wrong," he offered. Harry shook his head sadly.

"I do get too obsessed and ruin everything."

"you're still friends with 'Mione and me." Harry hummed.

"I guess so. But remember how I shut Hermione out to start with?"

“We both did that. It was because we thought she was boring and annoying. Not because you wanted me to yourself.” Harry exhaled heavily.

“Maybe.” Ron sighed.

"Harry, you have to do what makes you happy. Life's too short." Harry snorted. He knew that more than anyone. He was living on nearly 18 years of borrowed time after all.

"I don't know how."

"Stop rejecting Draco for a start," Ron told him, with a glare that almost rivalled Hermione’s. “Talk to him without feeling guilty.”

"Why does everyone assume everything is to do with Draco?"

"Because it is, and has been since first year." Ron reached behind Harry and pulled out Draco’s jumper from under his pillow. He showed it to Harry with raised eyebrows. Harry felt himself blush. "How do you really feel about him?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know what I mean."

"Ugh." Harry pulled Draco's jumper from Ron's hands and over his face. "I honestly don't know."

"Well, what does Draco do for you that no one else can?"

"I kind of lied to you when I said nothing happened after Draco came back. We kind of...cuddled." Ron raised his eyebrows but didn’t say anything. "I don't do that with anyone else."

"Okay. How about emotionally?" Harry frowned.

"I don't know. I just really like his company."

"Mate, don't bite my head off, but I have to ask: is there a possibility you see him as, you know, more than friends?" Harry started.

"No! Of not!" Harry had never had _those_ feelings about any men, let alone Draco.

"I just had to ask. Mainly because we -" he gestured to the sleeping boys, "think that maybe Draco sees you like that." Harry's stomach jolted unreasonably.

"Don't be ridiculous."

"You don’t think so?" Ron actually looked surprised.

"Of course not!"

"Okay." A long pause. “You two are really… I don't know. Different. Together.”

“What do you mean?” Harry was genuinely confused and intrigued.

“Draco smiles around you. He smiles around his friends but it's different with you. He softens. And the way he looks at you. Harry, I really think he does fancy you.” Harry's stomach felt like it was tied in knots.

“He does.” Harry jumped at the disembodied mumble from across the room. “Now please, be quiet.” The request was punctuated by a yawn.

“Think about it next time you see him,” Ron whispered. He slid off Harry's bed and went back into his own. Harry extinguished the light and gathered Draco's jumper into his arms. He had lots of tokens from his friends and family. He just happened to have Draco's in his bed. Harry sighed and pressed his face into Draco's jumper. It was beginning to smell more like himself than Draco now.

 

XX

 

Draco's face fell when Harry threw his jumper back at him. Harry had had it for a whole week, so he'd hoped the Gryffindor had wanted to keep it. He fixed a forced smirk on his face.

“Didn't like my gift, Potter?” He asked.

“No. I mean, yes I did like it.”

“Then why are you giving it back?”

“I thought you might want it back?” Harry was obviously lying.

“Potter.” Harry sighed.

“It doesn't smell of you anymore,” he admitted. Warmth rushed through Draco. He couldn't keep what was probably an embarrassingly big smile off his face. He tried to hide it by bringing his jumper to his face. It did smell like Harry, along with fireplace smoke. He was dying to hug Harry again and be enveloped in his warm, calming scent. He felt his body relax as he inhaled. Ever since the morning in the room of requirement, Harry became comforting, rather than an infuriating, energising presence.

He forced himself to put the jumper down. They’d finished the vast majority of their transfiguration project weeks ago and they’d come together to refresh their memories and put the finishing touches on before they handed it in.

“Do you remember where the neat version of this went?” Draco asked, flicking through their bound together project. Harry stood over him to look. Draco could feel Harry’s body heat and his arm resting on his shoulder as Harry flipped pages. Draco’s body went into overdrive. He suddenly became aware of his whole body. He’d reacted to Harry’s presence in a similar way ever since he acknowledged his crush on him, but this was stronger. It was the feeling of being so close but not being able to have. The urge to just _hold_ Harry was overwhelming. He clenched a fist to distract himself.

“it’s right here.” Harry pointed out the parchment right where it should be. “are you okay?” Harry looked concerned.

“Yeah. Just a bit distracted.”

“Your mum?”

“Yeah,” Draco agreed, but he was much more distracted by Harry himself. Not that he’d tell Harry that. Harry looked at him critically. “I’m fine. Really. I’m just stressed and distracted.”

“Okay.” Draco sighed when Harry moved away from him. The air was now freezing. He really had to up his game. He made a mental note to ask a house elf to bring him some clothes from the manor. A haircut wouldn’t go amiss either.

“Just leave it,” Harry finally snapped at him. Draco had messed up for the third time and Harry had finally lost patience with him. Draco tried not to take it personally since he knew Harry was also stressed but it still stung.

“Would you like me to leave?” Draco asked softly.

“No, I-” he sighed and ran a hand through his hair. “I’m sorry.” Harry met his eyes. “I’m just worried about you.” Draco’s eyebrows flew up. “I haven’t seen you like this since before we started working together and then I convinced myself I didn’t care.” Draco’s stomach flipped, and butterflies spread over his whole body. “I just-” Harry growled frustrated. “I hate seeing you like this.”

“I’m okay. You don’t need to worry about me.” Harry smiled but it didn’t reach his worried eyes. Draco felt guilty for making Harry worry about him when it was just because of a crush. Maybe a little more than a crush. Draco dragged his hand through his hair. He really, really needed to do something about the fact he was completely, hopelessly in love with the fucking saviour of the wizarding world.


	19. Chapter 19

I'm working on the next chapter!   
(follow me on social media for updates etc @averyisadork on insta, thewolfisfighting on tumblr, @asperwolff on twitter


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Part 1 woop!

Harry happily watched Draco eating with the Slytherins in ‘his’ jumper. He'd been wearing it since Harry had given it back to him. Harry couldn't keep Draco's smile when Harry had admitted how much he liked the jumper out of his head. His stomach fluttered with happiness even just at the memory of it. It was the first time Draco had ever directed a smile like that at him. The only other time was after he cast his first patronus. The Gryffindors had smirked at each other when they noticed the jumper, but nobody said anything. Harry was sure they were talking about him behind his back, but he didn't care. He knew they meant well. He'd been thinking about what Ron had told him but honestly he was too busy worrying about Draco to think of much else. He worried about Draco a fair amount anyway but after they worked together Harry's stomach was crawling. Draco seemed so distant and distracted. He jumped whenever Harry touched him as if he'd forgotten he was in the room. Tension now radiated off the blond. Harry hoped his mum wasn't going downhill. He was sure Draco wasn't telling him something. He was determined to find out.   
"You coming to potions or not, mate?" Harry tore his eyes from where they'd been resting, unfocussed, on Draco. Hermione and Ron were standing behind him, waiting.   
"Oh. Sorry. Yeah," he answered, embarrassed. He climbed over the bench, tripping slightly, and picked up his bag.  
"What’s up?" Hermione asked him when they were out of the great hall.   
"Does Draco seem different to you?" he asked them. He was aware that he was definitely starting to sound like a broken record with the amount he talked about Draco. He was too worried about him to care.   
"No, but maybe it's because he puts on a front with those he isn't comfortable with, so only you can see it. I’m sure he’s fine and if there’s anything wrong he’ll tell you," Hermione told him, leaving no room for Harry's worrying. She was good at that. It was one of the reasons Harry thought she'd make a great mediwizard.   
"Thanks, 'Mione."   
Xx  
"Today we will be testing your ability to improvise. It will test your knowledge of ingredients and how they work together." Harry grumbled. He wasn't good at potions at the best of times. "It may be strange to think that a non-drowsy dreamless sleep potion is useful, but it can be. Today you will choose a potion from the list on the board and change one thing about it. Get into pairs please." Harry immediately looked to Draco with pleading eyes. He rolled his eyes but picked up his books.   
"As long as you do what I say, Potter," Draco told him, smirking. Harry hmphed but agreed. It was probably best anyway. “Let’s make the cough potion cause drowsiness too. Good for colds and such.” Harry nodded and flipped through his textbook to find both potions.   
“Well, we need to take fireroot out of the cough potion because it’s energising. We should replace it with anise, I think, unless we can find something that doesn’t react with marshmallow root.”  
“Valerian root?” Harry suggested, looking at the ingredients of the calming draught. “It’s an optional ingredient.” Draco looked surprised.   
“Well done, Harry. That’d be perfect.” Harry wasn’t sure whether to blush with pride or feel insulted at the compliment.   
“I’ll get the cauldron,” he offered instead of doing either.  
“Get mine. The one under the sheet, top shelf,” Draco called after him. Harry found it easily. He tried to levitate it, but the spell rebounded. Grumbling, he pulled the extremely heavy cauldron off the shelf. He was grateful he’d built up muscle over the months he spent in the tent but despite that his muscles were screaming by the time he made it to their desk. How Draco lifted that thing he didn’t know. The Slytherin was a beanpole. Draco smiled wickedly at him when he came back from the ingredients store cupboard.   
“Did I forget to tell you only spells I cast work on my cauldron?” Harry glared at him.  
“Yes,” Harry ground out.   
“Sorry.” The apology was obviously not meant.  
“Yeah. I bet you are.”   
After five minutes of chopping ingredients in silence, Harry decided to let Draco off the hook.   
“How did you learn so much about potions?” he asked.  
“Being an only child is boring.” Harry hummed. He frowned as he attempted to cut the marshmallow root. “No, Harry. Like this,” Draco corrected him. Draco walked behind him and placed his hand over Harry’s. He showed him how to crush the root to make the fibres easier to cut. “Crushing also releases some of the oils, making it more potent. Plus, your knife is less likely to slip and cut you.” He gripped Harry’s hand and carefully chopped the root. He allowed Harry to do the rest on his own and praised him.   
“Thanks.” He liked Draco teaching him. He was surprisingly patient and explained why he did things. Hermione didn’t have the patience.   
“Now add the camomile powder. Sprinkle it in because it reacts very quickly, and we want it to be incorporated evenly.” Harry gently sprinkled it in and Draco praised him again. For some reason, praise from Draco made him really happy.  
“Aren’t we missing the honey?” Harry asked, frowning at the ingredients list and the things on the table.  
“This potion can be stored for years but as soon as honey is added, it will only last a week.” Draco explained.  
They managed to make a good potion between them. Draco mainly gave instructions that Harry followed but, in the end, he had learnt more from Draco than he had from either of his teachers.   
“Going to take the cauldron back then?” Draco asked Harry.   
“Yes.” Harry smirked and grabbed Draco's wand before he could pull it away. He replaced it with his own wand and grinned at Draco's open mouth. Draco's wand greeted him warmly, sending happy magic through his hand and up his arm. Draco's wand felt good, but he was unbelievably grateful that his own had been fixed. He never let it out of his sight since he got it back. He trusted Draco with it though, for some reason. He wordlessly levitated the cauldron back to its storage place. Draco was stood in the same pose as Harry left him in.   
“Thanks!” Harry said, cheerfully, and swapped their wands back over. Draco frowned.   
“You can still use my wand?” Harry shrugged a shoulder.   
“Yeah.”  
“Yours seemed friendly enough,” Draco informed him. Harry felt like he should be really jealous but instead he was kind of pleased.   
“Good,” he smiled.


	21. Chapter 21

Xx  
A large package was on Draco’s bed when he went up to the dorms after supper. It was full of clothes from the Manor and his new quidditch leggings. He rifled through it and sent the garments to various parts of his wardrobe depending on whether he thought Harry would like it or not. He smiled at the selection. He was looking forward to the weekend when he could try them out. He considered asking his friends and the Gryffindors to Hogsmeade just to make sure Harry saw him. It was a shame the eighth years had to wear uniforms.   
"New clothes?" Blaise asked, entering the room.   
"This feels ridiculous." but also exciting, he added mentally.   
"Pansy will be pleased though," Blaise reminded him, with a smirk.   
"I don't know what she expects me to do when we're in uniform most of the time."   
"Use weekends to your advantage, probably." Draco hummed. "And the quidditch club." Draco grinned widely.   
"Can't wait for that."   
"Five galleons says you can't make Potter fall off his broom." Draco smirked.  
“Make it ten.”  
  
xx  
  
Harry was flying over the black lake on Buckbeak. He opened his arms to the wind and was flung off Buckbeak’s back. From out of nowhere his broom appeared and he was suddenly flying through the ministry of magic, shards of glass falling in him like raindrops. He landed his broom, which disappeared into thin air. Someone called his name.  
  
Harry awoke with a start. He sat up and looked around the dorm. Everyone was asleep.  
  
_Harry_! The voice came from inside his head.   
_  
Draco?  
  
Yeah._ Even his mental voice was shaky. _  
  
What's wrong?  
  
I had a nightmare. Can you just._ A pause. _Talk to me?_  
  
_Yeah, of course._ He paused. _What about?_   
  
_Just… Just let me know that you're okay_  
  
_I'm okay. I was dreaming about flying on Buckbeak._  
_  
Stupid creature._ Draco muttered, sounding more like himself. Harry knew he didn't mean it. _Bet you had something to do with its escape._ Harry laughed mentally, only briefly thinking about the weirdness of it.  
  
_I did, actually._  
  
_How?!_ Harry could hear his incredulity through the link.  
  
_Dumbledore told Hermione to use her time turner to save him and Sirius._ Hopefully the story would distract Draco from his nightmare enough to fall back asleep.  
  
_Merlin, Harry. Wait. Sirius Black?  
  
He was my godfather. Peter Pettigrew was actually the one who betrayed my parents and killed all those people._ Harry sighed aloud. He was still so angry about that and tears pricked his eyes.  
__  
Merlin.  
  
Yeah.   
  
What happened to Black? 

_Bellatrix killed him. Remember?_ Harry felt them both wince at the words. __  
  
Oh. Yeah. Sorry.  
  
It’s okay. What felt like a mental hug spread through Harry. It was a strange but comforting warmth. Harry had some idea of how Draco had done it. He focused all his protective and happy feelings on Draco, remembering his smile, his sadness, their happy times together. It almost felt like the process of casting a Patronus. It really did feel like a hug then. He could still feel Draco's presence in his mind like a heartbeat after their conversation had ended. He even felt when Draco fall asleep and the sleepiness and peace that fell over him made him quickly follow.

  
Xx  
  
Draco stretched languidly. It was around 9am, considering the light. He missed being closer to the surface of the lake. First to third year were the best. The windows were just below the surface of the lake, so sunlight constantly reflected off it, causing dappling all over the room. Now he was high enough above it to get unadulterated sunlight. He didn’t mind it but missed the calming effect of the lake. Draco yawned. He’d slept remarkably well after his nightmare. He remembered talking to Harry and sending all his affection and love though the link towards him. He was embarrassed at showing affection but pleased with the fact Harry reciprocated. Plus releasing his feelings had made him feel less jittery. Draco was thankful that he had a free period first thing, so he could just lie in bed, half awake, half dreaming for a good half an hour. He felt more relaxed than he had in a while. He daydreamed about the quidditch meet happening on the next day.  
  
xx  
  
“Hello Harry,” Luna greeted him dreamily.   
  
“I didn't know you liked quidditch, Luna.”  
  
“Oh yes, I grew quite fond of it over the summer. It's relaxing to be in the air, don't you think? The thestrals have the right idea.” Luna was wearing Harry's spare quidditch jumper and she was playing with the sleeves around her hands as she spoke. Having never played quidditch she didn't have one of her own. Quidditch jumpers were knitted with magic that protected the wearer against the wind and the cold. Harry had bumped into her on her way to the pitch, wearing just a dress. She’d tried to assure Harry she was good at warming charms, but Harry accioed his jumper before she could complain too much.   
"Are you any good at quidditch?" Ron asked.   
"Probably not, but it's the thought that counts."  
"It's supposed to just be for fun, anyway," Harry told her, smiling.  
Players wandered towards them. Some in quidditch gear, some in regular clothes. Harry started handing out brooms to people who didn't have them. He was in the broom shed giving a nimbus 2000 to Neville when everything outside went eerily silent. Neville and Harry looked outside to see what was happening and immediately rolled his eyes at the cause of the disturbance. Theo, Blaise, and Draco had arrived. Though why the girls were flushed and whispering Harry didn't know. He wove through the crowd of at least 15 students to greet the Slytherins. When he could see the tall blond better he realised why he'd made a scene. Draco's clothes were skin tight. A pair of quidditch leggings hugged him so tightly it was if they were spelled on. Harry mainly noticed how worryingly skinny Draco was.  
"Doesn't he look fantastic?" Ginny said next to his ear. Harry frowned in annoyance.   
"He looks thin," Harry huffed.  
"You're not interested in men," Ginny said absentmindedly. Draco walked over to Harry. "although... You're not looking away," she added. Harry rolled his eyes and walked forward.  
"Glad you came," he greeted both Slytherins, smiling.  
"Wouldn’t miss it," Draco told him, smirking. He was leaning his weight on his broomstick casually. Harry could tell he was doing it on purpose for attention.   
“We’d better get started, then,” Harry told him.  
Harry and Ginny rounded up the students and put them into two teams. Harry thought he’d mix it up and put Draco in his team. He mixed up the other houses into the groups too. Seamus helped them with the rules of muggle football and they formed teams of nine; eight chasers and a keeper. Seamus offered to umpire. It was basically the same as quidditch, just without beaters and seekers. Harry used a quick spell to change a collection of tabards to bright orange and purple. Harry decided those colours were safest so include everyone. He handed them out to both teams. Without their quidditch robes it would have been hard to see their teams from across the pitch. Harry said the word and they all kicked off from the ground and into the air.

 


	22. 22

Draco waved his wand at himself, vanishing the sweat from his body. It was ‘half time’ as Seamus called it and everyone was catching their breath. Draco fought to keep a wide smile from his face. He was windswept and had really enjoyed playing so far. It was much more fun throwing and catching the quaffle rather than watching from the side lines. So far, he’d only cheated twice, and their team was ahead. His face ached from smiling and his throat was dry from yelling. He hadn’t managed to get harry off his broom, though. He’d have to try harder.  
Draco was pulled out of his thoughts when harry rushed up to him and hugged him. Harry was bouncing around like a puppy, hugging all his team members. He clearly loved quidditch and was happy the thing he organised was going so well. Draco looked around at the group of students. A lot of people didn’t even have quidditch robes, and some, such as Luna, were in the wrong colours. It was as if the house system didn’t exist and the students were only divided by the tabards they wore. Even then, they were mixed up, chatting and sharing water bottles. Draco thought harry had done a good job at splitting up friendship groups to avoid rivalry. Harry always did want peace. As quickly as he’d approach Draco, harry left him. Draco had hoped he’d see more of the Gryffindor, but he was too busy with other people to talk to Draco properly. Draco fought not to huff and instead busied himself with his water bottle.  
They soon started playing again and Draco made a beeline for harry. He immediately started competing with him, fighting with him for space and the quaffle. Draco stole the quaffle from Harry, darting in front of him before his fingers could touch it.  
"We're on the same team!" Harry yelled at him. I hope so, Draco replied mentally. Draco looked back at him over his shoulder. Harry had both hands on his hips and looked unimpressed. Draco sighed and tossed the quaffle to Luna since she was the closest person wearing their colour. Luna caught it easily. Draco turned back around sharply and went back to shadowing Harry.  
"You can't ever work with me, can you?"  
"I can!" Harry raised an eyebrow and hummed in a way that clearly meant 'yeah, right'.  
"You'd find it boring if I did." Harry laughed loudly, the sound distorted by the wind.  
"Probably!" he yelled, his voice cracking with the effort. Draco grinned to himself at the affirmation. He did worry on occasion he was pushing harry too far but the Gryffindor took every tease into his stride and gave as good as he got. Draco hated to admit it but harry was the superior flyer, only by a little, mind, and Draco eventually got bored of struggling to keep up, so he sidled over to Luna.   
“Having fun?” He shouted to her. Luna smiled, her eyes directed towards the hillside in the distance.  
“Yes, thank you, Malfoy. Today has been quite wonderful.” She turned to look at him. “You look happy,” she told him. “Barely any wrackspurts.” Draco tried to keep the confused frown off his face.   
“Thank you?”  
“You’re welcome, Malfoy.” Luna then reached out an arm and the quaffle appeared to fly right into her hand. She gave it to Draco with a smile. “It’s your turn to score.” Draco flew towards the goal posts, quickly hounded by Blaise, who was on the other team. Blaise tried to tackle him, but Draco swerved away and muttered a quick spell. He threw the quaffle in the direction of the goalposts and it magically flew in.   
“Cheat!” Blaise yelled at him.   
“Traitor!” Draco yelled back.   
“You’re on a different team!” Blaise yelled and suddenly Draco’s hands were spelled stuck to his broomstick handle.   
“Your penalty for cheating,” Seamus explained, putting his wand back in its holster. Draco glared at him and flew upwards to sulk.   
Xx  
Super short chapter to show I’m still working on this fic but been dealing with mental health and homelessness and now I’ve started college… again… so I’m super tired but yaknow. This fic isn’t dead, I’m just bad at writing it!


	23. 23

Harry went from celebrating to falling in a matter of seconds. He was always spectacularly good at falling off a broom. He didn't know what happened. One minute he was on his broom, the next he was seeing it meters above him. He supposed it would have helped if he'd not had his hands above his head, but even then, he shouldn't have fallen. Before Harry had time to take in a breath of surprise, arms wrapped securely around him, stopping his fall. The only thought in his head was thank Merlin he wouldn’t have to spend the night in the hospital wing.

 

"Are you okay?" a familiar voice asked, the words barely audible over the rush of his heartbeat in his head. Harry took a deep, steadying breath and took notice of the green shoulder and the arms around him. Draco had caught him, bridal style. Harry instinctively gripped the broom shaft when he realised both of Draco's hands were full. "Don't worry, sticking charm," Draco assured him, as if he’d read his mind. Harry’s heart stopped beating quite so hard.

"Hope you didn't use that in games," Harry grumbled, letting his body relax.

"Next time i'll let you fall," Draco threatened. Harry saw he was smiling, however.

"Thank you for catching me. I have no idea how I fell.” Draco helped Harry sit astride the broom. Harry’s own had drifted to the ground.

“Because you were being arrogant and not holding on?” Draco offered. Harry snorted.

“You are calling me arrogant?” Draco laughed in his ear, making Harry shiver. Draco wrapped his arms securely around Harry, leaving him to control the broom. He guided them both down gently to the grass. Harry supposed he could have flown them down faster, but he just wanted to be sure they were safe, and it had absolutely nothing to do with how Draco felt wrapped around him.

“Harry!” Neville jogged up to them, having already landed. “Are you alright?” Harry impulsively smoothed his jumper down.

“I’m fine. Didn’t see what happened, did you?” Neville shook his head.

“Sorry.” Harry smiled at him.

“It doesn’t matter. I’m fine, and we won!” Harry remembered and perked up.

“Thanks to Draco's cheating,” Blaise added, joining the group.

“We weren’t using the official quidditch rules,” Draco protested.

“I would have thought ‘no cheating’ didn’t need saying,” Neville told him. Draco fixed him with a glare. Neville just rolled his eyes. He was the same person, but the war had turned all of his nervousness into a kind of weariness. Draco seemed a little surprised. Harry was just high on adrenalin of flying and the happiness that everyone was getting on so well. He supposed flying and not talking helped everyone get along a bit smoother than other times. He’d had conversations about Draco with all of his friends and they all seemed unanimous in wanting to forget everything that happened over their last six years of knowing him but still thought he could be annoying. Harry’s chest swelled with happiness and pride at how great all of his friends were. Even Ron and Ginny were finally accepting of him, even though they both had reasons not to be. The other Slytherins were also working their way into their friendship group, he noted. Blaise’s love of quidditch definitely helped. They were all a little nervous of Theo and Pansy, however.

“It’s just a game anyway,” Draco huffed.

“Quidditch is not just a game, Draco!” Ron protested, looking very insulted. Draco crossed his arms.

“We weren’t even playing quidditch! It was a stupid muggle game!”

“Football is not stupid!” Seamus complained.

“We won anyway Draco, what are you complaining about?” Harry asked, trying to diffuse the tension.

“Fine,” he huffed. Harry knew Draco was just being difficult for the fun of it.

Ron distracted them by helping them collect up and put all of the tabards in the washing basket for the house elves and put the brooms away. It had begun to drizzle, and they all headed into the great hall. It was about half past five, so they decided to have a celebration tea party of sorts. Harry sent a few parchment birds off to a couple of people, including Hermione, who wasn't there for the game. They called a house elf, who happily went to bring them tea and snacks from the kitchens. Since not many other students were around, they sat by one of the fires on the Gryffindor table. It wasn’t particularly cold, but the fire always made Harry feel comforted. Harry sat down, and Draco immediately took the spot to his left. Harry smiled at him brightly and the Slytherin returned it. The others sat around them, with Luna opposite them. The house elf brought them pots of tea, a canteen of coffee and a large Victoria sponge for them all. Moments later Hermione arrived with Pansy in tow. She looked a bit uncomfortable with the Slytherin girl but was talking to her.

"How did it go then?" she asked the group, after plonking down next to Ron and kissing him in greeting.

"Well I enjoyed myself," Ron told her. Harry half listened to the group filling in the girls while he poured himself and then Draco some tea. He even remembered to put the strainer in the cup first to catch the loose-leaf tea. He usually drank coffee and still wasn't used to the old-fashioned way of making tea. Apparently, tea bags were a mainly muggle thing, and having the tea leaves left in the cup reminded him too much of divination. He watched Draco add one brown sugar cube to his tea. He'd never have guessed Draco had sugar.

"I haven't had tea like this in a long time," Draco told him softly. "My family used to have tea every day when I wasn't at school. Even father would come from his office to spend half an hour with mother and me." Harry put a hand on his arm. "I'm okay," he affirmed. Draco smiled at him. "I just miss some things."

"Me too," Harry told him gently, resting his shoulder against Draco's for a moment. Harry slid him a plate of cake. "but it'll be okay. We'll make new memories."

Draco smiled at him gratefully. “I hope so.”


End file.
